Wednesday, November 1, 2023
The Medium Security Institution (AKA The Workhouse) was constructed in Saint Louis in the 1960's. It was operational for about 60 years before reports of inhumane conditions brought about its eventual replacement and closure. There now appears to be some questionable renovation work being done inside-reportedly at the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Click here for the video.
Despite the location already winding up on social media and various news stories, I had let this one sit for an unspecified amount of time before posting anything about it myself-as is tradition. Using discretion helps keep lazy assholes/vandals out, it avoids search engine results from making it back to whomever is in charge of security; it helps prevent random fools from finding out about it and trying their luck at getting inside and accidentally locking themselves in a cell, etc. By the time I got around to posting it here I still refrained from identifying it by name/location/exteriors because that's the logical thing to do when you don't want to blow the spot. Unfortunately, using discretion when posting about locations seems to be a lost art among our more attention-seeking constituents who have since put this location on blast by publicly identifying it. To anyone who does this sort of thing for any notable amount of time, a pretty reliable fact becomes increasingly hard to ignore: Publicly identifying locations like this is why we can't have nice things. Loose lips sink ships and all that.
Regarding the aforementioned news stories: There was a segment earlier this year wherein a local news reporter just walked up to, and went inside of, this building.. without obtaining permission.. entirely on camera. If the law applies to everyone equally, then what I learned from that news segment was that it is entirely acceptible to enter stuff like this without permission as long as you meet the definition of a "reporter". As luck would have it, I, too, am "a person who reports" on things I find interesting. And as an official reporter, it is my duty to report that I am henceforth immune to those annoying and inconvenient rules which govern ordinary civilians; I shall commence forthwith using these newly discovered powers to their fullest potential.
Labels: government, institutional, jail, saint louis
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
The Catholic Boarding School was constructed in the 1840s as a Methodist High School. During the civil war, it served as a Union hospital. In the 1870s, it was purchased by a group of nuns who transformed it into the boarding school in which capacity it served until the 1970s after which it was a convent before finally being abandoned.
The property was eventually sold to its current ownership who transformed it into a bed and breakfast. I stayed here for a weekend recently. The portions of the property that are now part of the bed and breakfast are entirely renovated to such an extent that they are cleaner and more comfortable than most places I've ever stayed and I highly recommend getting a room here. I met the owner who took us on a tour and who agreed to let me photograph the place. She even fired up the pipe organ in the chapel and let me play it -which is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. It was fucking awesome. This place is cool as hell and, thankfully, so is the owner.
All of the pictures here are of the off-limits portions of the property. People do live in the main buildings now and freely roam the halls of these old buildings. I assured the ownwer that if I posted the photos online, I would not identify the location by name because I wouldn't want to associate their livelihood with photos of the buildings that haven't been fully renovated. Again, the bed and breakfast happens in *entirely separate buildings* than what you see below. And if you want to see this place, support them by renting a room for the night, talking to the owner and taking a tour of the place. I'm glad I did and I definitely plan to stay here again.