Forgotten Architecture
  Preservation Through Exploration
 
 

Broken Pavement

Hangman's Hospital

  

Nothing had seemed to go according to plan that day, the phone call I was to receive from a fellow explorer in Regina never happened and all the sites in the city of Regina had been demolished, gutted or were in the process of coming to either one of these states. The decision to leave this city was easy, especially when the cops were eying me down as I walked down the street back to my car. As I drove along the Trans-Canada and left the confines of the city the sun broke through the clouds and seemed to usher me into a new state of expectation and hope of finding something interesting. Thankfully, the sun did not lie and as I gazed upon the red brick structure of numerous levels and broken windows that familiar feeling of amazement and giddiness swept over me as I parked my car a couple of blocks away and packed up all my equipment. As I climbed into the building I unpacked my flashlight I noticed that there was a large amount of evidence of squatting and from other explorers past experiences from this hospital [whom stated of squatters] I called out to see if anyone would reply. Although the only reply was the echo of my voice through the narrow hallways and empty rooms I decided to play it safe and go to the second floor where there was ample lighting and to make sure that if there were squatters, they would have to come find me versus me finding them in the dark lower floors. As I walked up the stairs I marveled at the woodworking along the handrail and the stairs that appeared too made of marble. The second floor greeted me with spray-paint and the welcoming desk that was just to the right of the stairs. From there I began to explore the various rooms but to my avail could not find anything of particular interest that stood out in my memory. I then proceeded up to the third floor and began to look throughout the rooms. Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted something shining in the evening light and as my curiosity grew I entered the room and found myself staring at the table used for women who were giving birth. After examining the table and posing on it for some comical relief I proceeded to the next room where a giant light was still attached to the sliding mechanism on the ceiling. After being amazed by finding these pieces of equipment I then entered a hallway that was attached to the giant light room and traveled on the outside of the building. The hallway was choked with debris and the decay was amazing as moss and other plant life attempted to live in a hostile and foreign environment. The only piece of equipment in the short hallway was what appeared to be a washing machine or sterilizer that was somehow managing to keep its shape and not give in to the ever approaching moss. In the next room an odd device held its own and disguised its original purpose but after 10 minutes of examining it I could simply not figure out what it was for. Exiting out of the mystery room more tagging greeted me however not all of it was mindless dribble as this was the room of “Gunther the Puppy Killing Freak” as well as a large number of sinks. As I continued to explore the floor walking across the funky coloured carpet I found nothing of much interest until I reached the elevators where smoke had crept around the doors and left a solid layer of soot that remained as I rubbed my finger through it. I had become bored with this floor so I decided to proceed up the stairs and see if there was anything up on the roof but before I could go a hangman’s noose made of black electrical cord. However there was nothing interesting on the roof so I proceeded down to the first floor where the majority of the squatters had been reported and thought to be. Upon entering the hallway of the first floor I was overwhelmed by the smell of a previous fire. As I walked through the different rooms and halls it appeared that the fire had been contained to the main hallway leaving the secondary branch halls relatively untouched by the fire. After some time I found the X-ray room but unfortunately, all of the equipment had been taken out and the room was filled with gurneys. Having seen everything there was to see on the first floor I preceded down the stairs to the basement where the level of humidity shot up making my breath float up to the ceiling in a thin veil of condensed air. The sound of crunching and breathing echoed through the burnt halls until I reached the chapel when the air became less humid and more bearable. There was not much left of the chapel and the only indications pointing towards its former use were the stained windows that were boarded up and covered up with the flakes of paint now falling from the ceiling. After taking pictures of the room I then walked back and proceeded down the major hallway until reaching a large room that contained numerous amounts of food trays and along one wall, what appeared to be a morgue with people’s names spray-pained over the openings. Despite this, there wasn’t anything that held my attention for long so I continued down the hallway and found a steam tunnel that was flooded quite heavily and would either require uber-boots or a winter exploration. As I neared the end of the hall I was somewhat disappointed by the fact that I could not explore the steam tunnels but this setback was made up for when I entered a room that was packed with labeled pipes and some tanks that were vandalized with tagging. Taking a picture I looked at my watch and noticed that over four hours had expired despite the fact that felt like only a half-hour passed by. Realizing that I didn’t have a hotel room and that there were other buildings to explore before nightfall I packed up my gear and thanked her for allowing me to visit her.