A large house in Woodstock with a three car garage and a loft above. There’s a yucky inground pool out back.
Apparently the house was owned by a man named Dan Murray, an auctioneer who lived in the house with his wife Shirley and their two children. In 2011, Dan passed away. The house was vacated around 2016 and has sat dormant ever since. The outcome will most likely be demolition by developer.
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This house is located along a busy highway in Southern Ontario. It has a few interesting features such as the skeleton key locks, stairway railing and old Singer sewer. The most obvious feature, or hazard, is the obscene amount of black mold growing inside.
Circus clowns have existed in culture since the 18th century. Despite their lengthy history, people today find them to be scary. Perhaps this can be attributed to movies like Stephen King’s “IT”.
This house had a beautiful backyard at one point in time. There was plenty of outdoor space, an in ground pool, and pool house. The house had a deck that overlooked into the backyard. There’s nothing spectacular about the house itself. The basement suffered a fire which I presume led to the occupant’s leaving. The roof has a large hole in it.
Several boxes of belongings, mainly hand soap are left behind. Everything is strewn across the floor, making it difficult to navigate the upstairs.
The occupants were of German descent judging by the record albums and postcards left behind.
In one of the bedrooms, a safe has been pried open with a pickaxe. Whether the safe belongs with the house, or it was stolen, remain unknown.
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St. Christopher’s Separate School was built in 1966 to serve the residents of Hamilton as an elementary school. Due to shrinking enrollment numbers (105 pupils) the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board opted in 2008 to shutter the school after the school year.
Students were consolidated with students from nearby St. John the Baptist school in the fall.
Over the years the school has seen numerous fires and heavy vandalism. The school will eventually be demolished, For now, firefighters are routinely called out to extinguish arson.
If you think about it, urban exploring is much like Halloween. You go from house to house, knock on the door and see if there’s a treat or a trick. I’ve never heard of anyone being tricked though.
Will you hit the jackpot and get a can of pop? Will it be the coveted single Reese piece cup? Or how about the Double Bubble individually wrapped gum? Those always made your candy bag smell nice. My brother used to try hiding his candy bag and I’d always find it. After all, how many hiding places can there be? I remember one year I wasn’t able to find the loot after days of searching. I learned later that he had taken it next door to his friend’s house for safe keeping.
And then there’s the candy that causes you to frown and toss the goods under the couch: The candy canes that someone has saved for ten months, the black licorice. You know what I’m talking about.
The urbex hobby is similar in that you don’t know what you’ll get. On a good day it might be a rural farm with great wooden doors and trimming. On a not-so-good day it might be something like … this.
This location is being called Way Too Modern 2.0 (1.0 was last year’s post). It’s a modern house with an overgrown yard. The future of this house is not clear to me. There was a fan running in the basement due to the moisture, yet on the kitchen counter was a promotional package for new housing.
There was slight water damage in the living room. This wasn’t a great explore, but remember the Halloween candy canes – it’s not always what you wanted. As a photographer and explorer, I can appreciate the beauty of any property including this one. For all intents and purposes though, it could very well be MLS photography.
Along a quiet rural road this house sits in silence. The occasional car is about the only sound you’ll hear. There are signs of water damage inside the house.
There’s a certain absence, something’s missing, that would make this house have a lived in look to it. I can’t quite place it. The children’s bedroom has a made up bed with stuffed animals on it. In the master bedroom, you’ll find assorted jewelry, clothes in the closet.
The basement has a nice office area and a corner bar.
The most troubling sign though are what appears to be pools of blood on the carpet and a pillow.
The contents of this house, located on Lord Seaton Road, were sold off in February of 2020 as part of an estate sale. The owners either sold the house or are deceased. An application has been filed to demolish the house.
There’s nothing remarkable about my photos, the space was a little too confined for the wide angle photos and the composition is rather boring. Still, there were some cool aspects of this house including the staircase, wallpapered ceilings and the basement bar.
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This house is situated on an active street in Somewhere, Ontario. It was built in 1957. A single family has occupied the home for the entire time. They also didn’t change many of the design details, as you’ll see from the photos.
The house features six bedrooms and four out-of-this-world retrolicious bathrooms.
The house can be accessed from doors on the front, side and rear. The front door opens into a small entrance way with closet for jackets, etc. Beyond this is the living room with its large 12-pane peak window to allow in plenty of natural light. One has to be careful taking photos inside this house so as not to be seen by people outside. Whomever painted the walls didn’t tape off the windows, several of them contain sloppy brush strokes of pink paint.
The living room carpet has been removed and is in storage in the garage. The walls are a pink colour. One end of the living room has mirrored pattern tiles glued to it. From the living room area, you can access the red/pink flower patterned bathroom, though it must have been awkward to use while people were in the living room. The patterned counter-top and tiles appear to be original 1950s.
The kitchen is found on the eastern side of the house and can also be accessed from a door on the side of the house. The kitchen is not quite as outdated as the rest of the house, some upgrades have been made.
Just past the living room, heading towards the rear of the house, is the den area. It’s in here that you’ll find the complete wackiness and anything-goes style that was the 60’s. A very old black and white Philco television is built into the wall unit. Above it is a mono speaker. This would have been your 8-track tape, vinyl record collection wall.
Heading upstairs, there are three bedrooms. One of which opens up onto a rear deck that overlooking the backyard. Then there’s the pink tiled bathroom with green sink and green pattern wallpaper. Ahh the beauty of the past.
The bathrooms have a feature that seems to have disappeared over the years – recessed soap holders in the walls.
The master bedroom is a light blue colour with a bright purple closet area and what is arguably one of the ugliest closets to exist. The master bedroom has a bathroom of its own, with pink interior of course. The shower doors have mermaids on them.
Down in the basement, the wooden tile flooring is buckling in places. The basement bar has been removed but the old lights that were above it are still there – and working. The lights are an artsy design that looks almost like they have candle wax slapped on.
The basement bathroom is where you’ll find the real natural decay. Note the two holders built into the wall above the sink. Oh and try getting in here with a wide angle lens, difficult.
