Front Entrance

This is probably a stupid quesiton, but... why is there still electricity in an abandoned building?
(who pays the bill? lol)

this seems a little bit creppy to me

Ooooo I like this one a lot!

that is some great photos! they is a certain beauty in the decay , listen you will hear the echos of the ...past.....they whisper.

just leaving the electricity on seems like a colossal waste of energy. dumb shits should just turn it off.

i found electricity on there too. but i think it was in a different building. we even saw trucks pull up to certain bulidings and people go inside. im not sure what they were doing. there were brand new satellite dishes and sky lights.. can anyone explain this??
vampvanity@yahoo.com

most of the building are still used for different purposes...the teachers center is in one & the made one into the new school (fieldstone) & there probably are other ones used also...

Outstanding! Perfect light and colors. Love it!

Nice Overexposure on the lights coming through the door..... im gonna have to try that sometime.... im planning a trip back there soon

Motts, when venturing into these places, when seeing a light switch do you turn it on just t o see if there is power?

Looks like road maps on the walls...

I happened to find this site by accident. I worked as a teacher/habilitation specialist at Letchworth in 1980 and grew up in nearby Mt. Ivy. As a kid I wandered in the farming buildings where equipment and livestock was once kept. We also happened to get close to a building where residents lived and stared out of the windows. It truly is a haunting place and reminds me of humanity's feeble efforts to do their best at helping. Letchworth was a good idea gone bad.....these photos capture the essence of great hopes that went awry.

looks good to have a party in that room

The sunlight ruins the floresent. Dammit. :(

the lights r on ooooooh

I worked at Letchworth for 14 years. Did several jobs. To see these photos brings back many memories. Good and bad.Many of the residents there were just homeless,and were stuck in there. others needed to be there.When I started working there it was very overcrowded. There were 4,000 residents. As time went by, the population was reduced.The scariest place was walking through the tunnels under the buildings. Myself and several coworkers did it, in mid winter, and it must have been 100 degrees, due to steam pipes located in there. In the tunnels were traps, with dead cats in them. What horrible sight! Letchworth had an out of control cat population, so I guess they tried to control it by trapping them. The best memory was the friends I made up there, residents and coworkers alike.Memories that will last a lifetime. Sad to see it now abandoned and over grown with vegetation.

I agree Ira. I worked there for years too. Alot of great memories and so many people to remember.

Hi! Just thought I'd chime in :)

I think Motts was on the right track about the power system being connected throughout the buildings. My father is an engineer and frequently works for psychiatric centers throughout New York State (his biggest job thus far was at Pilgrim, I believe--he designed their power plant). Several years ago, although he doesn't exactly remember when, my dad did some work for Letchworth Village, or at least the buildings that were still operational at the time. He mentioned having to go through the abandoned buildings to look at the plumbing and electrical systems, because apparently they're still connected to the rest of the campus. I would imagine that's why the light was on here.

This was several years ago, though, and even my dad doesn't remember the specifics of the job, so please don't hold me to that. I hope I was able to help at all :)

Don't mean this personally as a slam against the owners of this or any other facility that might just leave lights on regardless of the hazards that might pose... but honestly one has to think that the idea of "oh, well, if it burns down it'll solve issues of what to do with the place or save demo costs" just gotta be in the back of at least one administrator's head, no...? Terrible thought, but look at how these places are treated, left to rot...