Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Empty Rooms

One of the things that struck me when we moved back to this part of Ireland was that despite being in the middle of a property boom, there are lots of empty derelict houses scattered around the countryside. Most of them were well-built, in their own ground, but are left to go to rack and ruin. Meanwhile, legoland housing estates are being thrown up on the edges of our towns and villages, in some cases completely altering their characters. In many cases I guess, the key was turned in the door for the last time back in the 1950s or 60s as people left for New York, Boston or Sydney, never to return. Here are a few, all from within a few miles radius of where we live.
Now that the property market has seized up, it might time to photograph some of the vacant suburbs that have sprung up in the last few years.










2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great set of archive shots John, I do a lot of the old houses about here too - good to have a record of this decay and offer visual commentary on the issue. The black and white adds to the qualities of neglect and hopeless abandonment. Tony

Jonas said...

Very nice!! I like black and white oics most...