The Modern Error

Established in 1853, Mare Island is the oldest US naval base on the west coast. In the mid 1990s most of the military facilities on the island were closed and abandoned, putting 3,000 civilian federal workers out of work. This building was formerly a reemployment center to help those workers transition into new carriers, but ultimately this too was abandoned. The building became increasingly derelict until 2015 when it was finally demolished. (photos are from 2011)

abandoned house near Astoria, Oregon

abandoned farmhouses in Iceland

Buchanan Castle

abandoned mansion in Scotland, built in 1855 and abandoned in 1954. (more photos here)

Buffalo Central Terminal

abandoned house in Searsport, Maine.  Built in the 1840s by a sea captain named Joseph Loomis Park, the house went through numerous owners before being abandoned around 1978. (This photo is from 2011 - to my knowledge the house has since been demolished).

Igloo City  an abandoned hotel in Alaska about 180 miles north of Anchorage. It's been sitting here unfinished and abandoned since the 1970s, after structural instability and code violations made it too costly to complete.

Illugastaðir abandoned farmhouse in Iceland

Viðborð abandoned farm in Iceland

abandoned house in a swamp near Sacramento CA

Mussenden Temple & Downhill Demesne Ruins of an 18th century estate in Northern Ireland, abandoned shortly after World War II.

Liberty Island About 20 years ago the levees broke on Liberty Island in the California Delta, effectively turning the island into a shallow lake (which it remains to this day). Lining what's left of the island is a cluster of abandoned homes and structures that were left to fall into disrepair after the flood. I took these photos last summer during the peak of the drought, when the water had receded enough for me to explore the area.

The Delta has routinely flooded all throughout its history, but with the combination of rising sea levels, increasingly intense 'atmospheric river' storms due to rising temperatures, groundwater depletion (causing the entire delta to literally sink), and now crumbling infrastructure, potentially catastrophic situations like the one that CA is on the verge of now are likely to only become more frequent.

(more photos of the island here)

Poltalloch House abandoned Victorian mansion in Scotland, built around 1849 and left to fall into disrepair about 60 years ago. (more photos here)