It has been around one year since they started to tear down CTU. My sentiment still remains that it was a complete waste to simply tear it down, but what is done is done. Now, there is nothing left but the warehouse, which is still in use. The rest is now an open field with new grass sprouting. You can't even tell there was anything there anymore. It is pretty sad.
These pictures are from various trips. I think we made a total of 6 trips out there (with cameras...more without) since they started tearing it down. Eventually we stopped going because there was nothing left. Anyways, these will be listed in order, not by building. And I apologize for them not really being sorted and all the vertical scrolling. I wanted to pretty much use all the pictures I had in the order I took them.
Trip 1 (The first day of demolition)
I'll never forget that day, May 4th of 2006. I was driving to work and saw the atrocity. They were tearing it down. They had already torn down the bakery, must not have taken long, but they were ripping into CTU. It was tragic. When I came home I grabbed my camera and went out there for some pictures.
The west side of the building taken from the front.
Same part of the building, from the other side.
From behind.
Same.
Close up .
From far off. That pile of bricks was the Bakery.
Trip 2
At this point, getting caught was not of concern. We needed to get pictures of the place from the inside. The building was constructed so well that the fact that it was half torn down made no difference. Most of these are actually from the Phantom Theatre, but some are from the main building as well. Sunlight was at a premium and we didn't want to get stuck out here in the dark without flashlights.
What's left of the J/K wings.
Remnants of J/K.
One of the drops into the theatre.
One of the hallways now cleared out.
The Crawlspace under the theatre.
Ahh yes. the very dark cold vents under the theatre.
The cooling device.
One of the big rooms. Now without windows but full of junk from the rooms in the hallways.
Same room looking out the west wall.
The attic.
The bottom of the turret. I took this picture because I didn't have a good shot of it before.
Inside the huge vent facing CTU.
Same position but turned around to get the beautiful shot.
Down the dark part of the vent.
Looking out from the attic of the theatre towards to the park.
Rubble below.
Looking at CTU from the attic.
The huge vent.
Artwork from the Theatre that I didn't want to go to waste.
The basement under J/K. What your step!!
Standing where the J/K wing used to be.
A set of urinals that I hadn't seen before. Still had stains...gross.
The phantom theatre as seen through the rubble. Taken from CTU.
The piano of the auditorium looking worse than ever.
Trip 3
I'm pretty sure we made this trip about a week after the previous. This time we spent more time going through CTU, or what was left of it. Again, light was at a premium. We had no flashlight, of course. We ended having to use the LCD of my digital camera to make our way through the basement. Real smart!!!
The Laundry Room.
Facing the pile of ruble.
Through the ruble looking at what used to be...well, half the building.
What used to be the kitchen and dining area.
Pile of ruble that is in what used to be the courtyard.
More remnants of CTU.
Inside my old entrance.
A drop off.
Looking out this ruined room toward the park.
A hallway that still looked intact.
One of the elevators.
Somewhere in the middle of the building looking over J/K wing.
Different angle.
Looking East to show what was left of this wing.
Looking down.
In the middle wing looking over to the destroyed building. The previous photos were taken over there in one of those knocked out rooms.
The basement.
The curved room with steam tunnel.
The steam tunnel.
Getting dark. Let's go! No, let's go under the kitchen instead.
Down the stairs.
The hallway that had access to the kitchen and the warehouse.
Dead end.
One of the cooler rooms for food.
Another dead end.
Another cooler room. I still remain that this could have been a body used in the morgue for storying the deceased. It just looked much different than the rooms that looked like your typical fridge room.
After we emerged, it was pretty dark. This is the Theatre.
These pics were actually taken from another visit later that week.
In the middle looking down towards the kitchen.
This was pretty dangerous. That's what's left of the roof. And in the distance is more kitchen.
In the remnants of the dining areas.
More dining remnants.
Some random room in the basement.
Trip 4
The next and last two trips made were pretty close to the end. All that was left were some hallways buried under the ruble. I'm not sure what possessed us to find them or traverse them, but we did. This was was at night. In fact, some of them are of the same stuff.
What's left of the basement.
Hallway.
The curved room with steam tunnel.
The steam tunnel is to the right.
A room filled up with ruble.
Another hallway full of ruble.
Another room with ruble.
Trip 5. The final Trip
At this point everything was pretty much gone. We found some dug out basement areas that you could almost tell what they were, but most was pretty much unintelligible.
The freight elevator in the basement hallway next to the warehouse.
The hallway.
More of the elevator.
Elevator.
Farther down that area. The door led....outside.
Looking out a window.
Septic pumps.
Another tunnel/hallway.
One of the basement stairs that now led nowhere.
In the old music area looking out.
A shelf that used to store musical instruments.
Farther out in the ruble there were remnants of another hallway. This was towards what used to be the front of the building. We were actually pretty surprised to find a few rooms left under the ruble.
Looking in.
A small room.
That room led to this.
Another room.
A room filled up with ruble.
A bathroom.
Same room as above. Different angle.
Crushed hallway .
Another room with ruble.
The curved room with steam tunnel again! I'm glad to find it was the last area to go.
The steam tunnel.
A doorway that led to a stairs with ruble.
The staircase.
A dug out basement room.
A pile of what used to be CTU.
Another pile :(
A distant shot showing piles of ruble, ground up building, the underground hallway, and the new ESH in the background.
The Auditorium torn down.
Part of the ceiling.
More of the Auditorium ruble.
All in all, a very sad time. This used to be home to many people...patients and employees alike. It also found a home in the past years for curios people who liked to explore. Whatever the connection to this place, it is all gone. A large field occupies this once impressive structure which has been resorted to being ground up and shipped out. R.I.P. ESH. Many people miss you.