LENNOX CASTLE [UK]

Exploration #293 Lennox castle. Lennox Castle, near Lennoxtown in Scotland, was built between 1837 and 1841 as a grand country house. Later transformed by war and institutional healthcare, it became part of a vast hospital complex before abandonment and a devastating fire.

Designed by Glasgow architect David Hamilton for John Lennox Kincaid-Lennox, the sandstone mansion adopted a dramatic Norman castle style, with battlements, corner pavilions and a commanding tower. During the First World War it was requisitioned as a military hospital. In 1927 the estate was sold to Glasgow Parish Council, which planned a major institution for people with learning disabilities.

Lennox Castle Hospital opened in 1936 with accommodation for about 1,200 patients. The castle itself became nurses’ quarters, while new wards and service buildings spread across the surrounding estate. During the Second World War the castle again served hospital purposes, and a maternity unit operated on the wider site until 1964. By 1987 the castle had been vacated, while the hospital gradually declined as care shifted away from large institutions.

The complex finally closed in 2002. Most of the hospital buildings were later demolished, but the Category A listed castle survived in ruins. In May 2008 a major fire caused severe damage, leaving the shell that stands today as a reminder of both Victorian ambition and a difficult chapter in Scottish social history.

SANATORIO DI BORNO [IT]

Exploration #252 Sanatorio di Borno. These buildings were constructed in the early 20th century, initially as a summer colony. With the outbreak of the First World War, like many other buildings in the valley, it was transformed into a recovery hospital for wounded soldiers.

After the war, the buildings were remodelled and renovated and in 1934 the Borno Sanatorium, named after ‘Gaetano Bonoris’, was inaugurated. The sanatorium was intended for the treatment of patients suffering from tuberculosis, dividing them into wards for men, women and children. With the discovery, spread and use of penicillin to treat tuberculosis, all sanatoriums were gradually decommissioned.

The Borno sanatorium was closed in the 1960s, and little by little the forest took over the surrounding area.

BATHHOUSE No.5 [GE]

Exploration #228 Bathhouse No.5. Bathhouse No.5 was one of the nine thermal baths located within the large central park of Tskaltubo (წყალტუბო), the town located in west-central Georgia designated as an important balneotherapy centre by the government of the former Soviet Union.

Tskaltubo has always been famous for its healing mineral waters and radon bath treatments. The centre focuses on balneotherapy for circulatory, nervous, musculoskeletal, gynaecological and skin diseases. The first balneological baths were opened around 1870 and in 1925, the first sanatoriums and curative structures were built. Development continued apace and in 1931 the town was designated a balneotherapy and spa centre by the Soviet government. Tskaltubo was one of Stalin’s favourite holiday resorts: he had a private swimming pool in Bathhouse No. 9, which is still in use today and not far from the abandoned Bathhouse No.5.

During the Second World War the hotels were used as hospitals, but after the war Tskaltubo became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Soviet Union. Moreover, it was not only a luxury holiday for the rich, but spa treatments could also be prescribed by doctors and provided free of charge to the poorer population. Four trains arrived daily from Moscow. There were about 5,000 beds in 19 hotels and sanatoriums and up to 1,500 people a day underwent treatment.

The independence of Georgia in 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of December 1991 caused the Tskaltubo spa industry to collapse. Without guests, most hotels and resorts were forced to close. Buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair.

In 1992, a war broke out in neighbouring Abkhazia. More than 200,000 displaced Georgians fled the conflict and about 10,000 of them found refuge in the empty buildings of Tskaltubo. It was supposed to be temporary accommodation but today, almost 30 years later, these makeshift flats have become permanent homes for new generations of families. The condition of the buildings is extremely poor even though they still possess the magnificence of Soviet architecture. A couple of former structures, Hotel Medea and Hotel Imereti, are still so incredibly photogenic that they host multiple wedding photo shoots during the summer months. Bathhouse No. 5, on the other hand, is just a skeleton of mouldy, peeling walls within the large city park.

In Tskaltubo there are other former thermal bath like the Bathhouse No.8.

SANATORIO CITTÀ DI MILANO [IT]

Exploration #109. At the beginning of the last century Italy, together with the other European nations, was fighting against the great health emergency of that time, “il mal sottile”, that is tuberculosis. The first structures in Italy were built in Valtellina; some of them are still present in the territory, some in a state of abandonment, others partially recovered in hospitals. With the increase of cases, mainly due to the fact that the poorest family members lived together in small houses, the government of that time decided to build new sanatoriums all over the peninsula. The task was entrusted to a young clinical tisiologist, Eugenio Morelli, who in a few years succeeded in training new specialised doctors and creating a network of sanatorium structures; structures distributed throughout the peninsula, designed in a similar way to contain costs.

The structure we are talking about in this article was inaugurated in 1924 with the aim of hospitalising the sick TBC patients of the Municipality of Milan. Built in elegant Art Nouveau style, it stood just a few kilometres from Milan, far from large population agglomerations, busy roads and establishments that could alter the purity of the air. The place chosen was also on the edge of a large wood and a pinewood that protected it from the winds. The climate was constantly less hot than in the city, better ventilated in summer and less foggy in autumn. Enlarged during the following years, in 1930 it could count on about 1000 beds. Like all sanatoriums there was also a church, which in this case was particularly important and was connected by corridors to the sanatorium so that the patients did not have to go outside.
Starting in the 1950s, following the contraction of the sanatorium sector due to the advent of the antibiotic era, beds were gradually converted to hospital requirements until the 1970s when the structure became a fully-fledged hospital. The hospital continued in its function for many more years until in the early 2000s when it was decided to build a new hospital, because it was more in line with modern hospital concepts. The decision to build a new structure instead of modernizing the old one sparked a lot of debate but in the end the new hospital was inaugurated in 2015, right next to the old one which was left from one day to the next in disuse, abandoned and unattended, at the total mercy of thieves and vandals.

The photos you can see in this gallery were taken in various visits not long after the closure of the hospital. Unfortunately, at present the structure has been depraved of everything that could be stolen, including the heavy cast iron radiators and the marbles of the stairs and the church; the pews of the church were set on fire, copper was stolen from the roof and finally bored kids meticulously broke every single window glass. A real pity for a historic structure that could have been recovered and used for new purposes.

ELISABETH SANATORIUM [DE]

Exploration #107. This sanatorium was constructed as a Lung Clinic between 1912 and 1914 by the Jewish Doctor Walter Freimuth and his wife. In 1952 the East German government repurposed it to treat patients with Skin and Thyroid tuberculosis. In 1967 it was again transformed into Skin Clinic. The main building was renovated in the 1980s, while the side buildings were designated as a housing unit for the staff and a “Wirtschaftshaus” – a stable of sorts to keep livestock.

The Clinic was closed down in 1994 and the property was returned to the Freimuth family who had survived the war in Exile in the United States. The building is currently in a very bad state. It was worth a visit due a very nice art work by Plotbot KEN, which unfortunately was vanishing too.

DR ANNA’S HOUSE [DE]

Exploration #88 Dr Anna’s house. Dr Anna’s house was the medical surgery and home of a German doctor specialized in urology. Even if everyone calls this place Dr Anna’s there is no evidence to any Anna anywhere in the house, but only to Dr K who lived at the property with his wife and his collogue Dr C who worked at the surgery. Dr K was born in 1910 and died at the age of 78 in October 1988. The property was still used after his dead, probably by his wife.

The building is now in an advance state of decay and the upper floors are beginning to collapse. The lower floor were the surgery, including an operation theatre, examination room, a store room and a large library of books in German and english, evidence of the education of the doctor. There used to be jars with preserved human organs, but over the years the organs have been gradually stolen (even if the jars remain..). The upper floor were the living area, including a room with a well preserved Steinway Grand Piano. The other rooms were unfortunately not accessible at the time of our visit. Many photos were around the house, evidence of travel and their opulent life.

If you liked this exploration you could have a look to this former soviet hospital: the blue theater hospital.

IL VILLAGGIO DI SONDALO [IT]

Exploration #64. In the first half of the 20th century, Italy, and many other countries, waged a real war against the worst disease of the time, tuberculosis, also called the ‘mal sottile’. Until the discovery of an effective drug in the second half of the 1950s, the only effective treatment was heliotherapy, practised in facilities called sanatoriums. Admission to sanatoria was also a form of isolation of the sick from the rest of the community, to prevent the risk of contagion. Sanatorium therapy was a palliative treatment to control symptoms and stimulate immune defences, through the triad “air – rest – food”. The locations for the construction of sanatoria had to be characterised by pure air, so many of these facilities were built along the Alps.

The sanatorium we are talking about in this article was the largest sanatorium in Europe. Built at the request of the fascist government, the choice fell on Sondalo because of its excellent weather conditions. In fact, not far from Sondalo had already been built a few years earlier, the Prasomaso Sanatoriums, now totally abandoned and in ruins. To built Sondalo, the work took eight years, from 1932 to 1940. The work was very demanding, both the access roads and the foundation plans were literally carved out of the rock, and artificial stone hairpin bends were built. The final result, however, was very neat, characterised by a rationalist style of architecture typical of the splendour of the regime of the time. It was a true independent village, equipped with an innovative system of cable cars that distributed clean linen, medicines and foodstuffs from the central building to the various pavilions. In 8 years, 9 pavilions were built to accommodate up to 300 patients each.

Although the village was only opened at the end of the Second World War, during the conflict the sixth and seventh pavilions were the protagonists of a little-known affair. In fact, thanks to a highly secret mission, very important works of art from Milanese museums and private collections were transported to the valley in lorries on duty at the Alpine dams and then hidden in various hollow spaces, including paintings by Rubens, Tintoretto and Segantini, in order to save them from possible bombing and looting. An even thicker mystery, never explained, remains as to how everything was done with the presence of a German garrison garrisoning in the village… unconfirmed rumours claim that the commander of the garrison was actually, in normal life before the war, a professor of Italian art history who had lived a lot in Italy studying mainly Tuscan art…
The Village has lost its importance since the 1970s and only a few pavilions are still in use as a hospital, which in recent times has become vitally important as it has become the valley’s reference Covid centre. The disused pavilions, on the other hand, are in a state of ‘controlled abandonment’. An association of volunteers, whom I thank for the opportunity to visit the site, is in fact responsible for preserving the abandoned pavilions from further acts of vandalism and has over the years collected many objects and testimonies of the sanatorium village in a small museum.

PREVENTORIO CHIAPPONI [IT]

Exploration #13 Preventorio Chiapponi. The Preventorio Chiapponi was a medical facility like others located in Italian localities where the favorable climate was believed to have a positive effect on the health of those hospitalized. The preventoria were by definition intended for preventive purposes, for diseases that in their already diagnosed forms required treatment in sanatoria, particularly tuberculosis. Children with lung problems from the province of Piacenza were hospitalized here.

Preventorio Chiapponi was built at beginning of 1900 at the behest of a benefactor, patron and agricultural entrepreneur, Rocco Chiapponi, born in 1854. The place built on the top of a small hill in the middle of a green area, was perfect for children with lung disease who needed long therapies and an healthy air. In the 1944, during the second world war, it was confiscated by the partisans and changed in a hospital to assist the wounded thanks to the civil resistance of so many young doctors.

The structures grew rapidly and more than 65 beds were collocated in the rooms but before the end of the year it was cleared and occupied by the nazi-fascist troops. After the war it had got back as an hospital for respiratory diseases until the 60s, then it was closed. Now the place is totally abandoned and in very rotten condition.

VILLA PENCHO SEMOV [BG]

Exploration #11 Villa Pencho Semov. Pencho Ivanov Semov (October 8, 1873 – July 10, 1945) was one of Bulgaria’s biggest industrialists from the first half of the 20th century. Born in Tsvetkovtsi, Pencho Semov had a great contribution in Bulgaria’s economic development. For over 50 years he was dealing with trading, industry and banking. Because of his charity, Semov was known as The Bulgarian Rockefeller. His will was written on March 21, 1943. His mansion was supposed to be turned into a retirement home carrying his name. It was supposed to be for 50 elders over the age of 60 and other buildings were supposed to be girls boarding school. The girls from poor families were offered a free education. The ones from wealthy families were supposed to be paying small taxes. His will was that there should be opened another boarding school for boys 10 years after that with a mandatory study of foreign language. The taxes situations was supposed to be the same. However his dying wish did not come true. During 1947’s nationalization all the resources for his charity projects were blocked by the government. From 1947 till late 90’s the mansion was used as Infectious ward by an hospital. So, instead of children’s laugh the walls of the building were filled with tuberculosis patients.

There was a sign with Semov’s motto engraved on every room’s walls: Love, hard labour, constancy. With this motto, Semov goes from a poor peasant boy to owner of 28 joint-stock companies of which three banks and two insurance companies. For him, Atanas Burov (Bulgarian financier, politician and diplomat) says: Pencho Semov succeeded cause except for his mind, patience, will and persistence, he also had courage and audacity, perspicacity and mightiness.

The buildings are now abandoned, an old steamroller and a statue of Jurij Gagarin are as well abandoned in its big garden.

BLUE THEATRE HOSPITAL [DE]

Exploration #1 The blue theatre hospital. The blue theatre hospital, know as the CCCP Hospitalis, is a sizable derelict military Russian hospital complex located on the edge of one of the biggest bases of the former DDR.

It would appear the hospital was built around 1890-1900, as the architectural style is similar to other military buildings of that period. In 1930 the hospital was extended, not only soldiers were treated, but also family members and people from the village. The new hospital had place for 400 patients. After the war, the Soviet used the hospital and based on some of the murals on the wall it would appear that at least the upstairs of the building was used for treating children. It was abandoned in the early 1990s when the Soviet army left following the reunification of Germany. It has lain abandoned ever since.

Not far from this hospital it is possible to find a former flight school, also used by the Red Army and now abandoned: the CCCP pilot school.