04 May 2010

Searching for Ruins

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Part of our road trip (and every trip we take, really) will be spent searching for ruins to explore. There's not much more exciting than walking into an abandoned house not knowing what treasures lie before you... peeling paint and wallpaper! Kitchens still stocked with old jars! Closets full of vintage clothes! OK, maybe I'm dreaming a bit with that last part. If we stumble across anything even half as wonderful as the abandoned homes found in heinrick05's Flickr stream I'll think I've died and gone to heaven.

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27 comments:

Pseudoangela said...

I don't know if you're a subscriber to the This American Life podcast, but the episode 'House on Loon Lake' documents a boy who finds an abandoned house in New Hampshire. It was a perfectly preserved time capsule with furniture, personal goods etc. of the whole family, sealed for decades.

Here is a link:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/199/House-on-Loon-Lake

BaronessVonVintage said...

wow...the colours, the textures...just otherworldly!

Anonymous said...

I am always looking for abandoned houses but over here in the UK every last one gets boarded off swiftly and prosecution is threatened in big letters to any trespassers. *sigh* Paperwork or an outlaw's disposition required.

I am planning a US road trip but thus far it is the stuff of daydream :-)

Katharina said...

I love your photoshoots in this abondend houses, its amazing.

In Austria you couldn't just walk into such a house, there are not even such houses :(, just little huts in the mountains or old barns which you could enter.

How do you find this houses?

greetings from austria

sewprimitive karen said...

Wow, those are gorgeous photos.

Elle said...

Gasp! That battered blue door...wow :)

Kayleigh said...

It's strange that there is so much romance in the mysteries of ruins from another era. It makes me want to go watch Grey Gardens again.

Starr Crow said...

i would die if i ever came upon such a marvelous place. pans still on the wall. a handsome chair waiting by the door. this looks like an Urban Outfitters catalog location.

Caitlin Rose said...

I would also suggest the "this american life podcast" on the abandoned house. its really captivating.

Meghan said...

The peeling wallpaper is magical. Thanks for sharing, and of course, best of luck on your hunt.

melina bee said...

thanks for introducing me to this stream/flickr contact. I actually am studying to be a historic preservationist, which is all about documenting and saving places like these.

Kari said...

Those really are compelling photos, but it feels slightly exploitative to me to document someone's abandoned house without acknowledging the possibility of sadness there. That was an actual home at one point, so it seems unfair to turn it into a photo shoot, treasures or not.

Zoƫ, Lion Heart Vintage said...

oh wow, what a treasure! i just did a post about this exact act - exploring abandoned locales. have you seen any of julia solis' work? she has some incredible photos of ruins as well!

LittleRachael said...

GORGEOUS photos. I'd love to have a poke around that building!!

Click HERE to visit Little Rachael Vintage :)

Sidewalk Chic said...

Whoa, these photos are amazing -- thanks for introducing this photostream.
I love that you and Tom are super adventurous on your road trips. I'd be a little spooked walking around abandoned houses, but the photos from your collections are so beautiful.

Kelley said...

I third the recommendation for the This American Life podcast. I think you'd love it. :)

Maria Confer said...

The peeling floral wallpaper is so dreamy.

Lulu Letty

Unknown said...

wow! this is fantastic, so beautifully decomposed, if it were safe and sanitary, i would live in a place like this, sometimes destruction is more beautiful then construction. xx
-bree

Unknown said...

amazing pictures. the colors, the textures, the materials are simply wonderful. such beauty in decay

Sarah-Leigh said...

Sally Jane I love your blog! Been following for a while now and you really have escalated my love for vintage clothes and spaces! The locations and settings in your photos are beautiful.

Starr Crow said...

WHOA. did you visit the link left in the first comment? I just finished listening to the hour long broadcast, and i must say, it was pretty incredible. I love the sort of Virgin Suicides commentary that accompanied it. it's like Sophie Coppola listened to that voice and matched it for her movie. both events set around young teens in the 70's. only instead of dealing with issues typically seen by teenage girls, this story dealt with things common of teen boys.

i'm glad one of your readers posted that.

Victoria / Justice Pirate said...

I love how the pots and pans are hanging up still in the one photo. this is so cool to me. Gorgeous. Thanks for always sharing this cool stuff Jennifer.
+Victoria+
http://tiedemanntribe.blogspot.com

Dulcie said...

Heartbreakingly beautiful. You won't find anything like this in England except maybe an old concrete council estate waiting to be bulldozed. Good luck with the search, would love to see some pictures! :)

rischa said...

I don't know why the textures of peeling paint and wallpaper are so wonderful, but they are!

Fabiola "Fab" said...

I can only dream finding a place like this one! I looooove it!

Anonymous said...

Places like this are always so enchanting and beautiful, but it also makes me so sad to see. I wish people took more time reviving and caring for old homes/buildings rather than leaving them to deteriorate or destroying them altogether.

Jenni said...

Underneath all the peeling, rubble, and dirt -- the interior is really beautiful.