Abandoned Industrial Archives - Abandoned Urban Exploring & Urbex Photography https://riddimryder.com/category/abandoned-industrial/ RiddimRyder Explores & Photographs Abandoned & Forgotten Places Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:06:54 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://i0.wp.com/riddimryder.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-websitethumb.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Abandoned Industrial Archives - Abandoned Urban Exploring & Urbex Photography https://riddimryder.com/category/abandoned-industrial/ 32 32 157258030 Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-westinghouse-boiler-house/ https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-westinghouse-boiler-house/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000 https://riddimryder.com/?p=28278 The Rise and Fall of the Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House Mostly hidden in the old industrial blocks off Aberdeen Avenue…

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The Rise and Fall of the Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House

Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House

Mostly hidden in the old industrial blocks off Aberdeen Avenue in Hamilton once stood a powerhouse essential to one of Canada’s most important factories. The Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House wasn’t just another outbuilding — it was the energy core of the massive Canadian Westinghouse complex that shaped this part of the city for decades.

Westinghouse began operating in Hamilton in the early 1900s and quickly expanded into a sprawling industrial presence. The factory produced electrical equipment, switchgear, and heavy industrial components that shipped across the country. To run a plant of that scale before modern electrical grids existed, the company needed its own reliable power source. Public infrastructure simply couldn’t support that level of demand. So Westinghouse built its own steam plant on site.

Inside what became known among explorers and historians as the Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House, massive coal-fired boilers generated high-pressure steam. That steam fed directly into three large steam turbines housed in the building. Each turbine connected to a generator below it, converting thermal energy into electricity for the factory floor. Operators controlled pressure, flow, and electrical load from panels along the wall, keeping everything steady while machinery ran across the complex.

The layout made practical sense. Boilers sat adjacent to the turbine hall to minimize heat loss and pressure drop. Steam entered the turbines at high pressure, expanded across the blades, and exited at lower pressure for reuse elsewhere in the plant. Westinghouse engineered the system for efficiency, and the setup allowed the factory to operate independently for decades.

By the late 20th century, changes in technology and energy distribution made onsite steam power unnecessary. Westinghouse reduced operations and eventually left the site in the 1980s. Many surrounding factory buildings came down between roughly 2005 and 2007 as redevelopment plans moved forward. The boiler house survived that first wave of demolition, standing as a rare industrial holdout for a time.

Eventually, though, the structure was demolished during the broader site clearance that paved the way for redevelopment of the former factory lands. Today, nothing remains of the building that once powered the entire complex.

The Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House represented more than heavy machinery and brick walls. It showed how factories once generated their own electricity, relying on steam, engineering precision, and skilled workers to keep everything running. Three turbines once roared inside that hall. Steam pulsed through thick pipes overhead. Every machine on the factory floor depended on what happened inside those walls.

Now the building is gone, but its role in Hamilton’s industrial history still matters. The story of the Abandoned Westinghouse Boiler House helps explain how the city grew — and how the infrastructure behind the scenes powered an entire era of manufacturing.

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]]> https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-westinghouse-boiler-house/feed/ 0 28278 Abandoned Fisher Body Plant 21 https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-fisher-body-plant-21/ https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-fisher-body-plant-21/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2026 18:41:36 +0000 https://riddimryder.com/?p=28139 Abandoned Fisher Body Plant 21 – Detroit The Abandoned Fisher Body Plant 21 stands beside one of Detroit’s busiest freeway…

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Abandoned Fisher Body Plant 21 – Detroit

The Abandoned Fisher Body Plant 21 stands beside one of Detroit’s busiest freeway junctions, looming over the I-75 and I-94 interchange. For decades, it was a working factory that played a real role in the city’s automotive story, long before it became known for its empty windows and decaying concrete.

Construction on the plant wrapped up in 1919, during a period when Detroit’s auto industry was expanding at a pace that demanded massive production space. Fisher Body Company specialized in manufacturing vehicle bodies rather than complete cars, supplying major automakers that were racing to keep up with demand. Plant numbers were used to organize their growing network of factories, and this building was simply assigned 21 in that lineup.

By the mid-1920s, Fisher Body was operating under the General Motors umbrella, and Plant 21 continued producing vehicle bodies for years after. Over time, the work done inside the building shifted. It wasn’t limited to passenger cars — the plant also handled specialty vehicles like buses, ambulances, and limousines. During World War II, production adjusted again, contributing to materials and components tied to the war effort.

As newer, more efficient facilities came online elsewhere, older plants like this one struggled to remain useful. By the late 1970s, Plant 21 was clearly showing its age. Manufacturing operations ended in 1984, closing the door on more than six decades of industrial use. The building didn’t go silent immediately, though. Portions were later occupied by industrial coating and paint operations, giving it a short-lived second purpose.

That final activity didn’t last. By the early 1990s, those businesses were gone, and by 1993 the building was empty. Years passed with no real direction for the site. The city eventually took ownership in 2000, but the size of the structure and the condition it was in made progress slow.

I explored the building in 2013, when it was still fully abandoned. Inside, the scale was overwhelming — wide floors, long stretches of empty space, and the kind of wear that only decades of use followed by neglect can leave behind. It felt less like a single building and more like a forgotten industrial district contained under one roof.

After sitting unused for so long, the plant eventually entered another phase of its life. Cleanup efforts began years later, followed by plans aimed at reuse instead of demolition, marking the first real shift away from abandonment.

Fisher Body Plant 21’s story follows a familiar pattern seen across Detroit — rapid growth, a slow decline, and a long period of uncertainty. Whether remembered for what it produced or for what it became afterward, it remains one of the city’s most recognizable industrial landmarks.

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]]> https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-fisher-body-plant-21/feed/ 0 28139 Abandoned Muskoka Sanitarium https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-muskoka-sanitarium/ https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-muskoka-sanitarium/#comments Sun, 11 Jan 2026 15:01:42 +0000 https://riddimryder.com/?p=27944 I had been to the this sanitarium many times over the years but never with Freaktography.  Crazy since we have…

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I had been to the this sanitarium many times over the years but never with Freaktography.  Crazy since we have done so many explores together.  Well, FINALLY we explored it together!

In 1897, officials opened the Muskoka Cottage Sanatorium on the wooded shores of Lake Muskoka, just outside Gravenhurst. At the time, tuberculosis killed thousands every year, and doctors had few tools to fight it. They believed fresh air, isolation, and long periods of rest offered the best chance of survival. That belief shaped everything about what later became known as the Abandoned Muskoka Sanitarium.

Rather than building a single hospital, planners spread small cottage-style wards across the property. Covered walkways and long verandas connected the buildings, allowing patients to spend hours outside, even during winter. Staff rolled beds onto porches so patients could breathe cold, clean air while resting. The design reflected medical thinking of the era, but it also gave the grounds a quiet, almost residential feel.

As demand grew, the site expanded. In the early 1900s, supporters opened the Muskoka Free Hospital for Consumptives on the same property. Donations funded care for patients who could not afford treatment, and people arrived from across Ontario. Many stayed for months or years, cut off from their families while doctors monitored their progress. Gravenhurst soon became known nationwide for tuberculosis care.

During the First World War and the years that followed, the sanitarium treated both civilians and returning soldiers. The property operated like a small community, with kitchens, laundries, workshops, and staff residences. Life followed a strict routine built around rest, meals, and outdoor exposure. For some patients, the treatment worked. For others, the sanitarium became the last place they lived.

Everything changed in the 1940s. Antibiotics such as streptomycin transformed tuberculosis from a long-term illness into one that doctors could treat quickly. Hospitals no longer needed to isolate patients for years at a time. As admissions dropped, the sanitarium’s original role faded, and by the late 1950s, tuberculosis care had largely moved elsewhere.

In 1960, the province gave the property a new purpose and renamed it the Muskoka Regional Centre. The buildings now housed people with developmental disabilities. While the site remained active, its aging layout caused problems almost immediately. Overcrowding, staffing shortages, and deteriorating infrastructure led to growing concerns. In 1994, officials closed the facility for good.

After that, everything stopped. Staff left, doors closed, and maintenance ended. Roofs failed, windows broke, and vegetation crept back across the grounds. Over time, the site gained a new reputation. Photographers, historians, and explorers began documenting the decay, and the Abandoned Muskoka Sanitarium entered Ontario’s abandoned landscape.

Today, the property still stands, caught between preservation and loss. Tuberculosis wards, residential dormitories, and service buildings remain scattered through the forest, each layer reflecting a different chapter in the site’s history. While redevelopment plans continue to surface, the Abandoned Muskoka Sanitarium remains a rare place where more than a century of medical and institutional history still exists in physical form.

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]]> https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-muskoka-sanitarium/feed/ 1 27944 Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-st-catharines-standard-newspaper-headquarters/ https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-st-catharines-standard-newspaper-headquarters/#comments Sun, 14 Dec 2025 17:48:34 +0000 https://riddimryder.com/?p=27822 Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters Out front of the main building. The History of the Abandoned St. Catharines Standard…

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Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters

Abandoned St. Catharines Standard
Out front of the main building.

The History of the Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters

The building at 17 Queen Street in St. Catharines, Ontario stands as the former home of the St. Catharines Standard, one of the city’s longest-running newspapers. Today, it is commonly known as the Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters, but for more than a century it served as a busy centre for local journalism. The newspaper began publication in 1891, and after William Bartlett Burgoyne purchased it in 1892, the operation quickly expanded.

By 1898, the newspaper established its headquarters at the Queen Street location. As circulation grew, the building underwent several expansions to meet increasing production demands. Between 1928 and 1929, the company added a larger press room and printing department. Another major expansion followed between 1952 and 1953, when new space and updated printing presses modernized the operation.

For decades, reporters, editors, and press operators worked inside the building as it handled both editorial and printing functions. Changes in the newspaper industry during the 1990s led to the gradual relocation of printing and mailing operations. By 1996, much of the original press equipment no longer remained in use.

In 2012, workers removed the final printing press from the building, officially ending its role in newspaper production. The following year, in 2013, the St. Catharines Standard moved all remaining operations to another downtown location and left the Queen Street building vacant. Despite ownership changes and occasional redevelopment discussions, the property sat unused for more than a decade and became widely recognized as the Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters.

On December 5, 2025, a major fire broke out in the long-vacant structure. Fire crews responded late that night, but flames spread rapidly through the upper levels, causing extensive damage and a partial roof collapse. Firefighters remained on scene into the next day to control hot spots and secure the area.

Unsafe interior conditions prevented a full investigation, and officials later classified the cause of the fire as undetermined. No injuries occurred, but the fire effectively ended the physical presence of a building that once played a central role in St. Catharines’ downtown and media history.

Thanks to our friend Freaktography for sharing this with myself & Zenning with Zay!

Wood paneled office
Wood paneled office
Decaying corridor
Large room
Decaying corridor
Dark room
Dark room
Film equipment
Looking down the stairs
Awesome glass block wall
Wood paneled office in the abandoned factory
Wood paneled office
Newsroom
Newsroom
Newsroom
Newsroom
Wood paneled office
Wood paneled office
Wood paneled office
Amazing paint peels in the staircase
Office area
Office area
Office area
Huge room that I have no idea the purpose!
Huge room that I have no idea the purpose!
Huge room that I have no idea the purpose!
Storage area
Beautiful staircase
Beautiful staircase
Beautiful staircase
Nice hardwood door
Sealed off staircase
Storage area
Front lobby
Art Deco staircase
Historic news prints from over the decades
Front lobby
Front lobby
Corridor
Corridor
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Abandoned St. Catharines Standard Newspaper Headquarters
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Print shop
Mascot Found in the Basement!!
Mascot Found in the Basement!!

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]]> https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-st-catharines-standard-newspaper-headquarters/feed/ 1 27822 Abandoned Niagara Falls Review https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-niagara-falls-review/ https://riddimryder.com/abandoned-niagara-falls-review/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2025 16:07:37 +0000 https://riddimryder.com/?p=27471 The Abandoned Niagara Falls Review building sits quietly now, but for decades it was one of the city’s busiest places.…

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The Abandoned Niagara Falls Review building sits quietly now, but for decades it was one of the city’s busiest places. Built in the early 1950s, it served as the headquarters for the Niagara Falls Review for more than sixty years. Inside, reporters typed out stories, editors made last-minute changes, and the press operators sent fresh copies of the paper rolling off the machines each day.

The newsroom covered everything from city council debates to high school sports scores. For many residents, this was where the city’s stories began. When the Review moved downtown in the mid-2010s, the building was left behind, its once-busy halls falling silent.

Time has left its mark here. Water leaks stained the ceilings and walls, while years of peeling paint created layers of color and texture. The main staircase has become one of the most photogenic spots inside. The way light catches the flaking paint and warped wood makes it look almost artistic—an unintentional tribute to the passage of time.

Today, the Abandoned Niagara Falls Review stands as a physical reminder of an era when local journalism thrived. Every surface still hints at the energy that once filled the space. Though the presses have stopped and the staff have long since moved on, the building remains a piece of Niagara Falls history—one that still tells a story, even without a single word being printed.

This was a fun explore for Zenning with Zay & I while on a multi day road trip!

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