I’ve lived in Chicagoland for almost a year and just realized that we have at least two huge abandoned buildings, the old post office and the old cook county hospital.
What are the largest abandoned buildings in the world and where do these rank?
I’ve lived in Chicagoland for almost a year and just realized that we have at least two huge abandoned buildings, the old post office and the old cook county hospital.
What are the largest abandoned buildings in the world and where do these rank?
The Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea is a good candidate at over 1,000 ft height. It was never completed, and was left derelict for 16 years. Work is now progressing again, but it’s not clear if it will ever be occupied, or to what extent (this is North Korea we are talking about).
I beleive there are is an abandoned aircraft hanger designed to house airships somewhere, that might also be a good candidate.
I think the Ryugyong Hotel either is or was a pretty good candidate. It’s probably the tallest abandoned building, at least.
This could interest you.
the catacombs in rome and paris. the paris catacombs are largely unmapped and has 4 known levels at underground (source: scariest places on earth hosted by linda blair.)
According to wikipedia the Ruygyong Hotel has a floor area of 360,000 sq meters. The New South China Mall has a (retail) area of 659,612 sq meters. It is not completely abandoned, but around 99 % of the space is vacant. I don’t know whether Ryugyoung is completely abandoned either.
As for height, the Ostankino Tower in Moscow probably takes the prize, but looking at the wiki page makes me doubt whether it’s really abandoned or not.
Ryugyong is definitely the most haunting place of the three.
Completely abandoned, and has been for 23 years (500,000 square feet):
I’ve combined two duplicate threads.
samclem Moderator
How about the blimp hangars in Tustin? Let’s see… they’re about 300 feet wide and 1000 feet long, so they’re up to 300,000 square feet already even if they don’t get extra points for volume.
How do you define “largest” and “abandoned”? By volume, perhaps the Great Pyramid qualifies, or did qualify for several thousand years if you consider it to be no longer abandoned.
What will the new Chernobyl sarcophagus count as, when it’s built and in place?
I would have never considered them abandoned.
But others might: it’s a building which for many thousands of years was not routinely used or occupied by humans, nor was it any longer fulfilling its original primary purpose as a tomb. If you consider that one of its purposes was to be a monument, then it has continued to fulfill that role to some degree, though for most of its history (and probably even today) most people have been ignorant of what exactly it commemorates.
I consider abandoned to mean that the owner has relinquished his property rights and vacated the property. Just being unused does not qualify as abandoned. I wouldn’t consider any of the examples given to be abandoned, just currently vacant.
I would think in the United States it would have to be Detroit, the old train station, the Packard Plant, etc.
Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia covers 11 acres (about 480,000 square feet), but that includes the grounds.
Is this what you’re referring to?
While not a single structure, Hashima Island is a pretty interesting example of an abandoned place.
Small potatoes!
The abandoned Packard plant in Detroit is** 3,500,000 sq ft,** ( 3 1/2 million) it sits on 37 acres, and it has a floor area of 35,000,000 sq ft .
.