Most of the factory next to the Barbed Wire Villa has been demolished since production ended in the 1980’s, but several buildings in various states of decay were still around. The area of the main factory was now a metal recycling plant. But on the opposite side of the road from it were two otherContinue reading “A Tiny Oddity”
Category Archives: Adventures
The Sleigh Ride Cottage
It was getting late and I was driving eastwards. I suddenly noticed a small house, which looked very abandoned. It was too late and too dark. I passed the house, parked and slept for a few hours. At dawn, I drove some kilometres back. And there it was, a small, abandoned cottage. I needed someContinue reading “The Sleigh Ride Cottage”
Read All About It
My friends often ask me, how I find all these locations. I could reply with a song from my early 20’s: Read All About It. Of course this song has nothing to do with abandoned houses, but its title does. I mostly read about them. Every week I do a Google search on demolition plansContinue reading “Read All About It”
Up In Smoke
My weekend getaway in my home town was coming to a close. I was in no hurry to get back home, so I decided to make the most out of my trip. The Guardian’s article in January had listed the most beautiful rural railroads in Europe, and they had chosen the track between Oulu andContinue reading “Up In Smoke”
Not Much Authority Left
The small white cottage was a no go, but we didn’t want to go home empty handed. On our way back towards the town centre, i remembered the old police association villa. Visiting it wouldn’t be a detour too exhausting. So there was a change of plans. A familiar sight from the previous summer, theContinue reading “Not Much Authority Left”
The Railroader’s Cottage Part II
I roamed around the downstairs looking for a stairway up, but was only walking in circles. This was the same room with the bicycle seen before from the opposite side. I finally found a way up. It was just a bit difficult to access the stairs because of the rubble. But before finally going upContinue reading “The Railroader’s Cottage Part II”
The Travel Lover’s Cottage
Somewhere in the east lies a small town, which was born and grew because of the forest industry. After decades of layoffs, closing production lines and factories, it has started to shink in size. This of course means lots of abandoned buildings, if only you know where to find them. This cute little cottage didn’tContinue reading “The Travel Lover’s Cottage”
The Staff Shortage Seems Real
In the backyard of a quiet regional hospital sits an even quieter area of old residential buildings from different ages. Its story goes something like the following. To attract staff from other cities and towns, apartments were built close to nearly every single public institution. Schools, hospitals, sometimes even churches, received their own residential buildingsContinue reading “The Staff Shortage Seems Real”
The Mill Is Open
The Southeastern part of Finland has a strong tradition in forest industry. Since the late 19th century around a dozen pulp mills and dozens of paper mills have cooked wealth to the Finnish society. In recent decades times have been hard. Paper machine after paper machine has been shut down, in the early 2000’s andContinue reading “The Mill Is Open”
Despair St.
Technically these buildings are not abandoned. They all are located on one street in the village of Myllykoski near Kouvola. They have been built between the 1930’s and the 1960’s, and have originally had stores downstairs and apartments upstairs. There are still people living upstairs, but when the local pulp and paper mill was closedContinue reading “Despair St.”