The old abandoned gymnastics club
The old abandoned gymnastics club

The old abandoned gymnastics club

The old abandoned gymnastics club

How to destroy art in one lesson

Montréal (Quebec), Canada

Abandoned in June 2014, the old movie theater had only a few decorative elements including the ceiling and its front to recall the original purpose of the building. It must be said that once closed in 1982, the intern architecture has been completely renovated to accommodate a second floor with a community gym.

That means that the first floor has been completely transformed. The bleachers have been trashed and the structure of the building was laid bare to re-divide the space. The result was such that there was no trace of the movie theater past on the ground floor. New premises were built to host the dressing rooms, a hair salon, workout rooms and more.

Today, the basement is flooded where stagnates a musty smell escape from the ten centimeters of water to your nose. Add to that the first floor who shows traces of mold here and there.

Upstairs, where a large gym has required a great gerrymandering of the Streamline Moderne architecture style of the building (late branch of the Art Deco style that emerged in the 30s but is often associated to the 1950s), we are found a few vestiges of that bygone era. Emmanuel Briffa, the interior designer responsible for the decor would have turned in his grave a few times if he had seen the result ...

Related content

The abandoned Blue Bonnets Raceway
Montréal, Quebec (Canada)

Blue Bonnets racetrack saga is not about to end anytime soon. One of the main topic of Montreal 2013 election was the huge eco-friendly residential project that politicians wanted to implant on the former racetrack site. Despite the fact that the...

The abandoned country school
Sainte-Clotilde-de-Châteauguay, Quebec (Canada)

True relic of a bygone era, the country schools in Quebec were more than 4,000 only 70 years ago. From 1829, with the adoption of the Act for the promotion of public education, until 1960 when the school reform enters into force, these schools...

The old general store in St. Brigide of Iberville
Sainte-Brigide d'Iberville, Quebec (Canada)

Closed for twenty years, the old general store do not look like a ship adrift, ready to collapse under the weight of years. I mean, not that much for a wood structure. 

Known as the Peanut, the history of the store goes back over a hundred...

Hotel Adler, the abandoned bathhouse - Photo by Diane Landro
Sharon Springs, New York (United States)

The 150-room Adler Hotel on the northern edge of the village with its Spanish style architecture was the last great hotel built prior to the great depression in Sharon Springs. The five-story hotel opened in 1927 and closed after the 2004 summer...