On the third floor of the book depository, there had clearly been a major fire. The ground was nothing but charred books and paper, and a fine soil that was obviously what remained of many of the books that had burned completely. Here is the huge hole in the ceiling, perhaps caused by the fire, where the metal that held the concrete floor together buckled and revealed the sun and the sky. I wish I'd been in here a month earlier, to photograph the trees that grew in the soil created by burned books before most of their leaves fell, but you get the idea.
--Barbara--, The G's, Kim+5, and 54 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Jana Tigchelaar 68 months ago | reply
Wow. I really like this shot.
jodi*mckee 68 months ago | reply
it's just incredible, isn't it?
devinemom 68 months ago | reply
amazing space. it looks so surreal.
just finished Fahrenheit 451 last night and all of these images seem to be quite timely.
struglas 68 months ago | reply
i love the way nature is giving "man" the middlefinger here.
mlk39 68 months ago | reply
amazing shots. what did it smell like in there?
dkfamily 68 months ago | reply
Stunning.
frau cowtown 68 months ago | reply
Amazing. I'm so fascinated by your view of Detroit, I've been Googling forgotten Detroit and trying to read what's up with the city.....
Kim+5 68 months ago | reply
Oh! It looks like the house in the beginning of the Lemony Snicket movie. It is also a gorgeous photo.
dculberson 66 months ago | reply
It's hard to tell due to the size of the picture, but it looks to me like there was a huge skylight that collapsed. The edges of the opening are too straight - the opening must have already been there.
Amazing location and picture, though!
Igpajo 66 months ago | reply
Kind of a poetic little circle of life there. A tree growing from the ashes of books. Very cool set of photos.
Oh, and you've been Boing Boing'd.
Chad in Ind 66 months ago | reply
Once the trees start budding in Spring, perhaps you can revisit? Excellent work.
zenaburns 66 months ago | reply
This place set on fire when I was a student at St. Vincent de Paul Middle School, which was right across the street. It must have been about 20 years ago. It happened during the day, so the commotion was quite the event. Michigan Central Depot was always fun for urban spelunking, but the burned-out warehouse took that to another level.
dstuart 66 months ago | reply
Wow. That's really sad. Still, I suppose that they could use it a setting and study for all those Sci Fi "I'm the last human on earth" settings.
Its also interesting to contemplate what future archaeologists will make of our society, given how fragile our store of knowledge is. Now, if only those were some good old-school clay tablets... what's fire gonna do now? Punk you fire.
wdfshampoo 66 months ago | reply
Make it bigger
Aaron of NEPA 66 months ago | reply
Looks like a scene straight out of the Half-Life 2 universe!
Seen in your Detroit Public Schools Book Depository/ Roosevelt Warehouse set. (?)