2016
Hell House
Buried in Patapsco Valley State Park are the ruins of St. Mary’s College, and since the main buildings have been torn down a single stone gazebo still shelters a metal cross despite the popular local legends involving Satan-worshippers and ghosts.
St. Mary’s College was built in 1868 to train young men on their way to taking up the cloth. Unfortunately for the college (but fortunately for urban explorers) the schools student body slowly evaporated until there were just not enough to keep things going and the facility was abandoned in 1972. The empty buildings slowly decayed as curious explorers, urban legend hunters, and hormonal teenagers took charge of the property. The haunting ruins soon became the subject of countless local legends involving every sort of supernatural clap-trap from satanic cults to restless souls, eventually earning the buildings the colloquial name, “Hell House.”
Hell House remained mostly intact for several decades until a mysterious fire destroyed a large portion of the property in November 1997. The result was even more haunting, as a crumbled and charred red brick building with shattered windows and ubiquitous graffiti now sat ominously on the hill. Over time, word spread of the haunted school and visitors began to come in droves. The property owner then attempted to deter these trespassers with guard dogs and local police.
While there are still other remnants of the college littering the grounds including foundations and concrete staircases, the most stunning relic on the site is the Christian altar that still stands beneath a crumbling, colonnaded pavilion. The large metal cross sitting beneath the faux-classical dome seems like some ancient artifact from some bygone time. The ghost stories about Hell House may be malarkey, but the site of the eerie old altar might make visitors think differently.
Landsdowne Theater
The Lansdowne Theatre opened in Lansdowne, a Delaware County suburb of Philadelphia, on June 7, 1927 with the movie “Knockout Reilly” starring Richard Dix and 1,381 seats. Originally operated by Stanley Warner Equity and Herbert Effinger, the theatre was designed by prolific Philadelphia-based architect William H. Lee and was decorated by Gibelli & Co. Nearby theatres designed by Lee that continue to show movies include the Anthony Wayne, Bryn Mawr, and Narberth, though each of their auditoriums have been divided into more than one theatre. Other nearby theatres designed by Lee have met varying fates, with one showplace, the State Theatre in Easton, reused for live shows.
The Lansdowne Theatre is an ornate movie palace inspired by romantic Spain. The lobby and foyer are Spanish Mission in style. The auditorium is influenced by Spanish Baroque, and has painted ceilings possibly based on Nero’s pleasure palace. The theatre was decorated by Harry Brodsky. While there are some less than sensitive attempts at redecorating and the damage due to lack of the climate control, the theatre retains much of its original appearance including light fixtures, stage curtains, seating, carpeting and plaster reliefs.
The original ‘blade’ sign and marquee were removed before 1941 possibly because it lacked space to list what was being shown at the theatre. On October 5, 2012, the marquee, restored with new ‘sparkling blue’ neon, was lit for the first time since 1987, and the first time the neon has been fully intact since the mid-1950’s.
The theatre’s Kimball 3Manual/8Rank organ faded with the silent era and was rediscovered in 1962 by the Theater Organ Society of the Delaware Valley, and restored. It was played regularly to at least 1975, by which time it was the only playable pipe organ in a Philadelphia area theatre. The organ was sold to raise funds to replace the air-conditioning system. It was later installed at a private residence in Mississippi, and sold again in 2003 to a collector in Arizona.
The Lansdowne Theatre closed July 8, 1987 as a dollar house, a last run theatre. Closure was due to the result of a fire in the electrical system under one of the retail spaces. “Beverly Hills Cop II” starring Eddie Murphy was the final film screened. In 1987, the theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and featured in David Naylor’s 1987 book, the National Trust Guide ‘Great American Movie Theatres’.
It was purchased in late-2007 by the non-profit Historic Lansdowne Theatre Corporation. The restored building will host the performing arts including popular music concerts, theatre and dance. Film will also continue to play a major role in the building. On April 10, 2010, the Lansdowne Theatre hosted a performance by the nationally known acapella group ‘Straight No Chaser’ to a sold out performance. The theatre was featured in a series of commercials for 2010 AMC Fearfest, and served as the backdrop of the filming of ‘Mad Ron’s Prevues from Hell’ and in the 2012 film “Silver Linings Playbook”.
The Lansdowne Theatre is the grandest of all the theatres that are closed, yet intact, in the Philadelphia suburbs.
In July 2023, the nonprofit Lansdowne Theatre began an $18 Million restoration so it will reopen in Fall 2024 for entertainment, primarily popular concerts.
National Cathedral
On February 3, 2016, I was given the opportunity through one of my Meetup groups to photograph the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. We were given special access to photograph the part of the Cathedral that is normally not open to the public during tours. During what they called “Seeing Deeper”, they removed the 2,000 chairs that are normally in the church. From their pamphlet:
“We draw from the medieval tradition of cathedrals where there were no chairs, and the vast open space served different human needs and activities. Worship took place at the high altar and the rest of the space was used for community gatherings – merchants selling goods,
people sharing ideas and taking shelter, pilgrims seeking spiritual strength and solace – it was sort of a medieval community center and indoor town square. ‘Seeing Deeper’ offers an opportunity to simply be
in the empty space, to be enveloped by sacred music, to consider important issues of our day, to pray…”
There were other groups there to photograph the space, so sometimes having someone in your shot was unavoidable. I decided to leave the people in my shots instead of removing them in Photoshop because it helps demonstrate how vast the space is.
Scranton Lace Company
The Scranton Lace Company, also known as the Scranton Lace Curtain Company and Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Company, was an American lace manufacturer in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The company was established by the Scranton Board of Trade as the Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Company in 1890 and was incorporated on June 15, 1897. The name Scranton Lace Company became standardized in 1916 when the Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Company and one of its subsidiaries combined their operations. On May 13, 1958, the company changed its name to The Scranton Lace Corporation, but soon thereafter reverted to using the name The Scranton Lace Company as its official title. From 1916 to 2002 the company remained the first and largest known producer of Nottingham Lace in the United States.
The company was the world leader in Nottingham lace and also produced tablecloths, napkins, valances, and shower curtains, among many other types of lace items. During the 1940s, the company teamed up with subsidiaries such as Victory Parachutes, Inc. and Sweeney Bros. to manufacture parachutes and camouflage netting. The company prospered well into the 1950s, but risky investments involving Hal Roach Studios and the fledgling television industry placed the company in financial peril and eventually led to its closure in 2002. Despite the factory being one of area's biggest employers, it closed in 2002 with the company's vice president telling its employees, mid-shift, that the facility was closing "effective immediately".
The facility featured a theater, bowling alley, gymnasium, infirmary, clock tower (that is a city landmark and has a Meneely cast iron bell) and other amenities.
On January 31, 2011, the Scranton City Council gave final approval to Lace Building Affiliates to redevelop the Scranton Lace Complex industrial factory located at 1315 Mylert Avenue. Development was stalled because the site had been located within a flood zone before a levee was completed along the Lackawanna River in 2011 and the mapping was not updated until early 2016. Environmental cleanup work is expected to begin in August 2016.
On December 30, 2011, the company's abandoned building was featured in the pilot episode of the Abandoned television series.
The factory complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The Scranton Lace Company Kingston Mill at Kingston, New York was listed in 2013. The corporate records were moved to the Waverly Community House in 2012.
As of early 2019 the plant was being demolished. The clock tower is expected to be preserved and incorporated into the planned residential redevelopment.
