Paragorn Hotel

Urbex: Paragon Hotel, Italy – April 2015

The rather large Paragon Hotel in Italy has been empty for around 10-15 years and is frequently occupied by the homeless. Occupying a pretty central location in a relatively large city, one of its dominating features is the main ballroom which has a huge skylight in the middle. Draped with fabric, the skylight provides a nice diffused light on the white and gold accented room…

High Royds Insane Asylum aka West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Urbex: High Royds Insane Asylum aka High Royds Hospital aka West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Menston, Leeds, West Yorkshire – February 2015

High Royds Lunatic Asylum or the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum as it was originally called, is a former psychiatric hospital near the village of Menston in West Yorkshire. The broad arrow plan asylum features a large array of stone built wards and interconnecting corridors most of which have been demolished leaving the majority of the old wards as independent buildings most now repurposed as modern apartments…

Bangour Village Hospital - Building 15 The Recreation Hall

Urbex: Bangour Village Hospital aka Edinburgh District Asylum, Scotland – February 2015

The now derelict Bangour Village Hospital is a large Psychiatric Hospital complex which first opened in 1906 as The Edinburgh District Asylum. The Asylum which was modelled on a German village-plan design similar to that of the Alt-Scherbitz asylum of the 1870s. In 1918 when the Asylum has around 3000 patients it was renamed as Bangour Village Hospital and operated under this name until its closure in 2004…

The Last Asylum

Urbex: The Last Asylum, Somewhere, United Kingdom – April 2014

The Last of the great Asylums in the United Kingdom to close its doors I believe in 2012. The now abandoned site is quite large and on a scale similar to that of some of the other big asylums in the UK. Due to it being one of the last to close the interior was unsurprisingly very modern and bare with most of the equipment I suspect being moved to functioning hospital and care home facilities shortly after closure.

Ushaw Seminary

Urbex: Ushaw Seminary, Durham – March 2014 (Revisit)

Briefly the abandoned Ushaw College, a former Catholic seminary was founded in 1808 by scholars from English College, Douai, who had fled France after that college had been closed during the French Revolution. Ushaw College had been affiliated with the University of Durham since 1968 and finally closed in 2011 due to the shortage of vocations.