Abandoned Hamilton

[the dude]

cool photos. i dig that kinda stuff but i know i'd break my neck for sure.

how's the theatre portion of the building? i guess it's been vacant for 15 years now. i always marvel at how quickly the earth claims its victims. if everyone left the hammer tomorrow it'd be rubble in 20 years. actually, at the rate we're going it'll be rubble whether there are people here or not.

[matt602]

The auditorium that was built by 20th Century Fox in the 1950's is actually doing pretty well, since it is isolated from the rest of the building. The roof of it is swiss cheese but it isn't built of a very strong material, as it was only intended to be an interior ceiling. The theatre has actually been vacant for about 19 years. 1989 was the last film if I remember correctly (Back to the Future 3?). Anyway the building is in a sad state and surely isn't a Lister Block kind of building. There's not really any way it can be saved aside from the facade. Hopefully the developer that saves it does a good job incorporating it into the new structure (doubtful).

The company that owns it now is coming off as rather slumlord.

Here's a site with TONS more info on the Century, including comments from past employees.

http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1996/

[IronWarrior]

I actually saw 'Back to the Future 3' there when I was like 12...now I'am starting to feel old...lol! as well as many other movies, its hard to believe its been 19 years that its been closed! its quite sad to see the condition its in now!

[Gurnett71]

Last movie I can recall seeing there was Pet Semetary, around 1989 as well...

[itsbryan]

A few more of Lyric Theatre for you. Sorry about the size, I don't have photo manipulation on my laptop.



The main stage, illuminated by a spotlight.


Some of you who attended this theatre may remember the details on the wall.


But what you didn't know, was that around the actual theatre, and an entire vaudeville theatre remained, including a rather large balcony.. which has unfortunately been crushed under a collapsing roof.

The floor in this picture is the roof of the auditorium. It's being suspended by those wires, and is in a terrible condition. I attempted to walk over to the balcony (over a gangway).. a loose wire snapped, the theatre buckled, and a piece of concrete fell three stories into this auditorium.


A lobby shot from 2006, when power was still present. Note the Century Theatre sign.


Above the lobby, the offices and projection room are in the worst condition. Entire floors are missing, requiring death-defying leaps between floor supports in order to get to the third and fourth floors.

[matt602]

good stuff bryan.

[holymoly]

Originally Posted by itsbryan

Entire floors are missing, requiring death-defying leaps between floor supports in order to get to the third and fourth floors.

Oh man, you're scaring me..... But I love the photos. Thanks for posting them.

[matt602]

More Royal Connaught Hotel



Come on Harry. This building is just screaming potential.

[flar]

These are killer shots, thanks for showing us what's inside these buildings.

[matt602]

I really think at least a portion of the Connaught should have been in Doors Open. The lobby could easily be cleaned up a bit and made "public safe". The 92 King elevator also still works (it's safety certificate only expired a month or two ago). It could be used to take people up to see the view from the circus roof. I'm sure if Stinson had bought it earlier and the idea were put forward he would have made it happen.

[itsbryan]

Just a lightning snapshot I took during the storm on Friday. This is on the roof of a neighbouring Firestone building.

[holymoly]

Fantastic photo! Thanks for posting it.

[the dude]

the last movie i saw there was good morning vietnam. not sure what year that was...maybe 1987. i remember that because i got the tar beaten outta me after leaving the theatre. ah, i miss the old days when random violence was around every corner in downtown hamilton. anyway, it's too bad someone didn't get to it a little earlier. would have been a fantastic renovation.

[matt602]

More of what most people coming to this thread wanted to see: abandoned industrial Hamilton. Firestone Boiler house and main plant again.






(the spiders in this area get freaking huge during the summer)




(something tells me this area would make an awesome loft)

And some Lister Block shots that I got a month ago which I didn't post because I didn't want to compromise the entry. It has since been secured, so I guess I can post these.

[MsMe]

Sad to see so many places so run down. It seems greed put into their own pockets is more important then saving the older buildings in the city.

[IronWarrior]

Pretty Cool pics Matt!, although its sad to see the Lister Block in that condition now... Its almost hard to beleive as I remember walking through it many, many times as a young kid/teen I was about 16 when they the last tenants finally left and they boarded it up..Have you been alble to get into the basement of the Lister? there used to be a gym/spa down there, my mom was a member during the early 80's, last I heard there was severe water damage down there!

[matt602]

Yep, no pictures though because it's pitch dark and I hate trying to manually focus the camera in those conditions. The pool and hot tub are still down there along with barber chairs.

There is VERY severe water damage and mold down there. It's the only part of the building that I recommend wearing a respirator in for people who go. I don't even think LIUNA has ventured down there too much at all. It's really bad.

I really wish I could have seen the Lister in operation. There's only about 3 pictures of the interior of the building that I've ever seen while it was in use. The terazzo flooring on the 2nd floor looked awesome. Same goes for the Century theatre as well. I've only seen 1 or 2 pictures of the interior while it was in use. They are very grainy, old photos from shortly after it opened in the 1920's. Kinda hard to make much out. I'm shocked that the Capitol and the Tivoli also never got too many pictures taken of the interior, especially since the Tivoli was around and in-use until somewhat recently. Thankfully the Tivoli's auditorium is still in relatively good shape, so it doesn't take too much imagination.

[Millstone]

does anybody here have a UER account with full access? i haven't seen any decent Lister shots on there since they went to the 'closed' membership.

[IronWarrior]

I remember going to the Century and Tivoli when I was a little kid on Saturdays to see movies, Century closed up for good around 1988..I can still remember standing in line with my mom going to see the lastest new movie at the time, lineups all the way out the door and down mary street...hard to imagine that now!

[matt602]

Originally Posted by Millstone

does anybody here have a UER account with full access? i haven't seen any decent Lister shots on there since they went to the 'closed' membership.

Try a search for "Lister Block" on flickr. Pretty much everything that was posted on UER will come up there as well. Hundreds of pictures from the last 3-5 years or so. Unfortunately I've only been doing photography for the last 2 years, so my pictures don't go back far. I wish I had pictures of the Lister from the first time I went in, about 7 years ago.

Searching other popular Hamilton locations "Royal Connaught", "Tivoli", "Lyric", "Firestone", "Stelco Rod Mill", will also return some interesting results.

I haven't posted any pictures of the Stelco No. 2 Rod Mill. That place was awesome though. Stelco closed it up in 2004 and we got in about the year after. Everything was in mint condition, even the PA system still worked. It was very eerie, as if workers could come back in the next day and resume production. Unfortunately it is now almost completely demolished. In its last months the security was beefed up a ton because we had frequented the place a bit too much.



That pic is from about a month ago. About half of what you see remains. The stacks are sitting on the ground now.