Abandoned Houses on 180 street

I just recently stumbled across another isolated location, by fluke, in the west end of Edmonton where a small neighbourhood probably once thrived but is now being phased out by industry.

On 180 street just north of Stony Plain Road, a little past a Finning branch, sits a group of 3 houses that are currently still occupied by residents.



Further down the road, you will also find two very derelict houses that have obviously not been occupied in many years. There were signs everywhere warning of dogs on the premises so I took that as a 'No Trespassing' sign and stayed off the actual properties. On the far north side of the last property, there is an access road that leads up the side of the property to an industrial site. I walked up that road briefly to get a shot or two of the backs of the houses but left as soon as I could.







I also captured a shot from Google Earth to show you what things look like from above.



I always find it interesting how old relics like this can remain hidden and unharmed to follow through on their natural decay process. You would normally think that these places would be a gathering place for trouble or a haven for vandals. Yet, in Edmonton, people tend to leave things like this alone. Many are just more content to smash bus shelters and break public property in high traffic areas instead, things that people are ACTUALLY STILL USING. Weird and very backwards.

Griesbach Revisited

Today's post involves more old artifacts at the former Griesbach Military base that has been converted into new subdivisions. There is still a fair amount of old buildings, foundations and other odd artifacts that haven't been completely removed yet. Today's topic shows one of the stranger monuments.


I was working near this odd structure and took a few photos of what is still left of it. I really had no idea what I was looking at so I decided to focus on it specifically. This is located next to (and left) of an older building currently being used as a Liquidation Store. From the road, it's hidden in the trees and even mostly obscured by dirt piles on most sides. It is also fenced off (although not very well) to keep trouble out although, based on graffiti and one building appearing to be burnt out, not really working.

I went home that night and looked it up on Google Earth. The monument from the air is even odder from that view than it was on the ground. However, upon closer inspection, I came to realize that this was quite possibly an old shooting range basing my conclusion on the divot marks along the main back wall.

Old House in Jasper Place

I was working on a site located at 109 ave and 149 street where an old house was about to be torn down. I wanted to see them actually pull down the house but unfortunately, I would not make it back there before they did it.

This old house was making way for a new 4-plex that will be taking it's place. The lot was actually this big even though the house itself may have only eaten up about an eighth of the property. I talked to an old gentleman that lived across the street who filled me in on the history of this old house. The last few years saw tenants come and go, but finally in the last year, a young man living on the street had taken refuge there. The owner of the property had found the young man living in the house and let him stay there until he was ready to tear down the house. However, there was no power or heat, just running water.

The writing on all the surfaces of the house are presumed to have been written by this young man during his stay. But, he was long gone by the time I was able to take these pictures. As of Friday, October 30th, the house had been bulldozed.

A Farm House on the South Side

Okay, so here is another series of pictures of an old farm that is slated to be torn down in the next little while. I had the opportunity to walk around the site and investigate inside the houses as they were all unlocked. These pictures were taken last summer (2008) and I believe the farm may still be there. This old site is actually hidden really well and is a little past the new Windermere neighbourhood.

The next series of photos gives you an idea of what kinds of things were still inside the house. Although it looks as though the former tenants may have left about 2 years before, it almost had an eerie appearance that they vacated only yesterday. There were actually what looked like three houses that span many generations set around the site. The first being a small house with a wood burning stove and concrete floor. A second and slightly larger house that had mostly succumb to water damage and mold inside (this is where I found all the junk) and the third house which was the best decorated of all.
There was still a small amount of furniture in some of the rooms that looked as though it was still of value to someone. A lot of the decorating and the wood work was quite amazing and looked as though someone truly cared. It's too bad that the foundation of the house was literally falling apart. I was just glad that I had the opportunity to capture some photos of the old farm before it gets bulldozed.

I have many more pictures of this really cool find but I will add them later as the blogger program they supply can be very uncooperative. The other pictures include more detailed shots of the woodwork in the large house, a few old cars and a few more barns.

Wolf Willow Mansion

I'm going to open this new blog site with a home that is being torn down in Edmonton's Wolf Willow area on the west end to make way for a new mansion. I took these pictures about a week or so ago when we were doing some work for the new owner. What you are looking at in the top photo is the main drive to the house.


This picture shows you an entryway that was possibly designed so you could just drive up to the door and load someone in a vehicle. This is actually at the North end of the house looking back towards the South.

The next picture is of the East side of the house that faces the North Saskatchewan River. The view from the front windows would give you an overview of Fort Edmonton Park (to the left). Today, if you looked to the right, you would see the new pedestrian bridge being built. What was interesting is that in one of the windows upstairs, there were acrylic finger paints of flowers or something in the window. You could also still see the old shades in the windows with a small string and ring attached underneath. The house is completely sealed at the lower half so there was no chance of looking inside.

This is another view of the West side of the house where the main entrance was very original. It seemed to be about the fanciest entrance on the house. Here is a close-up view of the entrance.




I don't know if anyone has information on this old place. I suspect it will be meeting it's impending doom from the excavators soon. If you decide to look for this old house, just remember that it is on private property. I had permission to be there due strictly with my job. If it seems as though it doesn't deserve to die, on closer inspection, it's in pretty rough shape.