Asylum Seeker
(image via: SMichelle Enemark)
The Boyce Thompson Institute in Yonkers, New York opened in 1924 but closed in 1978 when increasing air pollution (not to mention skyrocketing property taxes) necessitated a move to the Cornell University campus in bucolic Ithaca. Naturally, the Institute’s buildings and many greenhouses were fixed assets that remained in Yonkers, where city authorities have done their best to pretend it isn’t there. Vandals, squatters and metal salvagers know better, however. It’s said the abandoned greenhouse complex lies near an an abandoned insane asylum… strike two, Yonkers, one more and yer out! Kudos to Flickr user Michelle Enemark of Curious Expeditions for the stark and slightly creepy images above captured during a visit in late June of 2013.
Sanctum Sanatorium
(image via: Gnusam)
This old abandoned greenhouse must have been quite the showpiece in its day… many, many years ago. The gracefully curved roof of the greenhouse complemented the classic style of the other buildings which together comprised a sanatorium with its own farm – a self-sufficient community designed to keep the “inmates” well-fed while shutting prying eyes out. Seems legit!
Red Brick Greenhouse
(image via: Franz Franzen)
Can we call this abandoned greenhouse “Gewächshaus-5”, considering it’s located in Dresden, Germany? Though it doesn’t look like a greenhouse in the traditional sense, the plethora of trees growing up through the now-open roof give the game away. Much of Dresden’s architecture was painstakingly rebuilt after the Second World War and the city’s devastating bombing but this red brick dream, having survived the nightmare, was left to decay at a much slower rate.
