This monstrous maze of a property boasts just over 2.2 million, that's right I said MILLION, square feet...some fantastic graffiti...a court yard area full of amazing things...and a skyline view of Chicago that is unlike any other.
I get a call from my partner in crime, and he wants to do a sunrise shoot from the top of this somewhat popular abandoned building on the near west side of Chicago. I am not going to go into the details of the business that ran out of this wonderful urbex location because the information is out there and easy to find. I will talk a little about the history of the building itself and well...tell you the little tale of the day.
Now, I will be the first to admit I am NOT a morning person, but who passes up a chance at a sunrise alone with someone special? Not me. An early morning meet in the dark and a short trek and we were speed walking along train tracks through one of Chicago's roughest neighborhoods pre-dawn. When we finally reached the infiltration location, I was in awe. A story and a half climb on 1/2 inch metal pegs using an air compressor hose as a hand hold/rope. My partner in crime HAD to be kidding. We had evaded the 24 hour security, hidden from railway personnel (yeah being busted on tracks is now a homeland security thing...not good news) and NOW I had to scale a wall like freakin spider man. SHIT. (BTW, security got wise to the way people were getting in and have since removed the air compressor hose making it impossible to go in that way).
After a short "I can/I cant" back and forth...we were in. This place is huge, massively huge, and to make negotiating its halls and floors more complicated...scrappers have removed entire stair cases. Nothing says 'WAKE UP' like opening a door to a stair well...in the dark...and your flashlight shining on a 7 story drop.
Once the sun was up and we had taken it all in, we decided to head off to explore as much of the massive complex as we could in the 6 hours window we had planned for this trip. Room after room of graffiti, covered walls that held signs of a once booming business. Remnants of machinery and equipment was scattered about in broken piles of rubble. With almost all the windows missing and some exterior walls partially collapsed, the elements had made their way into the building and sped up the natural deterioration process.
The complex consists, currently, of a 17 acre parcel and multiple buildings. Opened in 1904 as a small shop, the company grew by leaps and bounds. By 1923 the company had taken over 5 floors of the building they were in. They expanded to the building just behind them and continued to thrive. Between 1923 and 1953 a total of 12 additions were put on the complex. Over the years as shipping and importing sugar became more costly for the company they began to outsource more and more to other countries. Finally in 2003 they announced that they would be closing the Chicago factory and in 2007 the plant closed officially.
In 2008 during the filming of The Dark Knight, the building the company expanded to in 1923 was demolished. The building was used as the Gotham hospital, and was blown up for the movie. Barrels of dynamite were placed in the original company building to blast fire out the windows and create a larger fire effect for the movie. The barrels remain in the building to this day, as seen above.
As an urbex photographer, I see a lot of graffiti. And face it, GOOD graffiti is hard to find. This location is splitting at the seams with fantastic street art. I enjoyed the lessons I got from my PIC as we walked through and he told me the ins and outs of tag art, we even got to see a piece so fresh that the room still smelled like fresh paint. When I find a piece that speaks to me, I MUST photographer it.
Finding your way to the green demon is a sort of right of passage (at least to me it is). I would take this wall home with me if I could (but since I can't...he is being incorporated into my back piece).
As cold as the day was we kept trucking through. The floors had iced over in many places and we literally skated across some sections of the factory. The laughs and constant moving kept us from icing over completely and at one point we found a sunny spot in a bathroom that blocked all the wind. We took some time to sit and chat and let the large constant light source in the sky thaw us a bit.
Back down on the ground floor is an old rail connection area where trains would come in to haul shipments out. The area looks more like a strange green house now as it has become overgrown...and even in the harsh Illinois winter, was very green with moss and other plants. It was one of my favorite parts of the plant.
The courtyard between buildings was another fantastic spot. Part of me wants to know, but part of me is horrified at the possible answer as to what exactly was in the water that had iced over in an entry way. All I know for sure is that it was absolutely beautiful and drew me in.
If you want to see more images from this day, please check out the FB page!
https://www.facebook.com/abandonedbyabby
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