Location: Mirthios, Crete, Greece
State: abandoned
Age: looks like the house has been habitable a few years ago. Judging by the look of the place - maybe it was built in the 1980s.
The place is located in a mountain village in Crete. The village itself is small but it's just above a very famous resort - you can see it though the window. Many tourists come to the village because of the view and the great food BUT very few actually realize that these people are very poor (if not for tourism). The irony of the image is that place with the best view is actually abandoned.
I took this image by accident - was waling around the village and came to the top of the hill. My actual goal was to take a pic of the panorama but as I passed by this window it was at the same level as the street - I got goosebumps by what I saw through it. There is something eerie about this image - I expect a ghost to come out though one of the doors. I squeezed in the lens through the broken glass of the window and took a few photos - not many since the whole place made me feel quite scared.
In post-processing I did my best to show the great view through the window.
Location: Agathias, Crete, Greece
State: abandoned
Age: probably the beginning of the XX century
This is a recreation of an old shot. When I first came to Agathias in 2013, I was fascinated by this old house, located in the backyard of your hotel. It is a wonderful example of how poor Cretans were - it is a really small house and several others are dotted around the village - some of them still habitable - you could still see an old couple siting in one of the two tiny rooms, watching TV.
So, when I came back in September, I wanted to recreate the shot. It turned out that the place has grown ever worse and it's full of garbage (I suspect tourists have a lot to do with this). The place looks old and by the size and view of it, I guess it was built somewhere around the beginning of the XX century. Unlike the previous Cretan house, this one is much smaller, poorer and has stayed abandoned for a longer period of time.
I wanted to capture the barred window and the blue door and emphasized on texture in post-processing. The traditional white has turned to yellow-orange by time, rain and wind.
State: abandoned
Age: probably the beginning of the XX century, end of the XIX century
It is a wonderful example of how village houses looked like a century ago - the first floor is usually used for cattle or storage space, while the upper floor is the actual living quarters of the family. In the area of Zlatograd, due to availability of stone, the lower floor is made of stone while the walls on the upper floor are made of branches and mud (it's a simple technique but I am not sure I can explain it coherently in English). The fence around the house is also made of stone.
I loved the unparaded authenticity of that house. Zlatograd is full of placed where culture in history is just put in your face (even though it is not as old or as authentic judging from the new facades) while this place, just a few steps away from the tourist path, looks like it has a lot to share.
It was locked and totally impenetrablе. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any locals to tell me the story of the place.
State: abandoned
Age: probably the end of the XX century
These two images are from one and the same place I found in the contemporary part of Zlatograd. It is interesting since I didn't expect the local branch of the tobacco company (as you can see on the first image - the sign reads 'Bulgartabak (short from Bulgarian Tobacco company), storage and assortment facility Smoliyan - the closest bigger town - branch Zlatograd'). It is strange to find a place like this abandoned because tobacco is one of the most common crops and sources of income in the area. The sign reminded me of a classical Bulgarian book, also called Tobacco, by Dimitar Dimov. It is the story of Nikotiana, the predecessor of Bulgartabak, and how tobacco ruined the lives of all people connected to it - from the workers to the owner. A few years ago, there was a big scandal with this company going bankrupt and leaving thousands of people without sustenance.
All those things were going on in my head when I found this place so I made an effort to capture the state it is reduced to. Then I emphasized on texture in post-processing.
State: abandoned
Age: 1930s
This is the first image from the series I took with compiling a portfolio in mind. It is maybe the most famous abandoned place in Bulgaria and certainly the most beautiful house in Sofia. Ever since I saw the works of Zdravko Yonchev, I wanted to visit the place but didn't find the time to do so. So, once I had the task to document abandoned buildings, this one was on top of my list.
The story behind the place is long and tangled. It was built in the 1920s as the house of a wealthy Bulgarian banker. Even for the time and his social status, this place was something extraordinary and spacious. It got its name from the decorative strawberries in the front yard. It was so spacious, that it had special gates for carriages and once the house used to be the favourite hanging place of the Bulgarian elite.
Unfortunately, in 1944, the luck of the owners turned and the house was nationalized by the Communist government. 'Nationalized' means that the house was taken over by the state with no compensation whatsoever for the owners (I have no idea what happened to them, but if they were alive and in Bulgaria at that time, they would have been lucky to give only the house and not end up being shot or in the Bulgarian version of Gulag).
Within the years 1944-1989 the house used to be the Romanian embassy in Bulgaria or some type of commercial representative of the USSR or (as some people say) - other enterprises of the USSR with purpose unknown.
In the 1990s the house was a movie set for the Bulgarian production 'The tail of the Devil' (have watched it, it's weird). With the change of government, the house was given back to the descendants of the original banker family who built it. Since 2004, it's owned by a very wealthy entrepreneur who doesn't do anything about it.
Today, the house is locked up and left to rot - as you can see from the image. All access to the insides - spectacular indeed - is denied. The neighbours are famous for calling the police on anyone who tries to get into it. The pity here is that the place would be a wonderful museum of what Sofia was like before WWII and the bombings, before the Totalitarian regime.
State: inhabited?
Age: the beginning of the XX century
This house may look abandoned but it's more likely to be inhabited. Now it looks elaborate to us, used to the uniformity and ugliness of regular Communist blocks of flats (which comprise around 80% of the residential space in Sofia) but this was actually a poor town house. Compared to the house with the strawberries above. this one looks plain and poor. It is now located almost in the ideal center of Sofia but in the beginning of the XX century it used to be in the very outskirts of town in one of the poorest areas - the so-called Iuch-bunar neighbourhood which was full of Bulgarian refugees from Greece, Romania and Turkey. The same place hosted the Jewish diaspora too (the sinagogue is just a few steps away from this house).
What drew me to this house was the inscription above the balcony - reading 1911 - and the elaborate ornamentation left to rot. So I made an effort to emphasize the decay of the place.
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
State: inhabited
Age: most likely from the 1930s or the early 1940s
Another house on the same street but this time from a different period - it is much bigger, has more floors and looks wealthier. There is another thing - this house is inhabited for sure. I photographed this house because of the 'tower' for which it is famous. It is located on a busy boulevard and will be renovated soon since most other buildings are already touched up.
The first image - with the 'no parking' sign on it was meant to emphasize the contrast between old and new. The converging verticals are there because there was very little space for maneuvers (unless I wanted to get hit by a car or a tram) and because I wanted to put the sign (which was directly in front of the house) and the tower in one image.
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
State: abandoned
Age: most likely from the 1920s
Speaking of towers - this place looks like a Medieval castle and along with the house with the strawberries is one of the most famous abandoned houses in Sofia. If is known as 'the house with the tower' and it is truly extraordinary, as it was its history.
It was built by a revolutionary - who took part in at least 3 uprisings and around 5 wars (the Balkans were a violent place in the beginning of the XX century). He was a nationalist and in the 1920s came to the end of Sofia and built this house in then not so prestigious neighbourhood full of Bulgarian refugees from Greece and Turkey. He did the project himself and built the house with his own hands. He also helped his neighbours for their houses.
It is said that the tower of the house is modeled on the White Tower in Thessaloníki, where the owner came from. It used to have two entrances (you can see one of them above) and probably the ground floor used to house a shop since there is a third door at the corner (the image with the road sign).
This house is much smaller than the house with the strawberries and is left to decay - a local told me that the grandchildren of the man who built it quarrel for inheritance so they left it to rot so that it would fall down on its own and free the space for a block of flats. Today the house is one of the few that remind of the old days and it is surrounded by huge blocks.
State: abandoned
Age: most likely from the 1920s
Speaking of towers - this place looks like a Medieval castle and along with the house with the strawberries is one of the most famous abandoned houses in Sofia. If is known as 'the house with the tower' and it is truly extraordinary, as it was its history.
It was built by a revolutionary - who took part in at least 3 uprisings and around 5 wars (the Balkans were a violent place in the beginning of the XX century). He was a nationalist and in the 1920s came to the end of Sofia and built this house in then not so prestigious neighbourhood full of Bulgarian refugees from Greece and Turkey. He did the project himself and built the house with his own hands. He also helped his neighbours for their houses.
It is said that the tower of the house is modeled on the White Tower in Thessaloníki, where the owner came from. It used to have two entrances (you can see one of them above) and probably the ground floor used to house a shop since there is a third door at the corner (the image with the road sign).
This house is much smaller than the house with the strawberries and is left to decay - a local told me that the grandchildren of the man who built it quarrel for inheritance so they left it to rot so that it would fall down on its own and free the space for a block of flats. Today the house is one of the few that remind of the old days and it is surrounded by huge blocks.
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
State: inhabited
Age: most likely from the 1940s
This house is one of the many in the neighbourhood in poor condition that is inhabited. I have no idea what its history is but a local told me that the municipality prohibits any reconstruction works on buildings below 50 or 70 square meters. When I asked why, the answer was 'to make room for blocks of flats, they don't care about culture or history'.
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
State: inhabited
Age: most likely from the 1930s
This place has a history. It is in the same neighbourhood as the house with the tower and I was drawn by its windows. While I was taking pictures, a local approached me and asked for information. So I explained I am a photographer and I am doing a project on abandoned buildings. He was surprised and said that this one was not abandoned. When I asked why it is in this state, he added that the the municipality prohibits any reconstruction works on buildings below 50 or 70 square meters. When I asked why, the answer was 'to make room for blocks of flats, they don't care about culture or history'.
This place is a historical monument since in the 1940s a famous female guerrilla leader used to hide there. The local told me that there was even a sign on the side of the building but it's now torn out.
State: inhabited
Age: most likely from the 1930s
This place has a history. It is in the same neighbourhood as the house with the tower and I was drawn by its windows. While I was taking pictures, a local approached me and asked for information. So I explained I am a photographer and I am doing a project on abandoned buildings. He was surprised and said that this one was not abandoned. When I asked why it is in this state, he added that the the municipality prohibits any reconstruction works on buildings below 50 or 70 square meters. When I asked why, the answer was 'to make room for blocks of flats, they don't care about culture or history'.
This place is a historical monument since in the 1940s a famous female guerrilla leader used to hide there. The local told me that there was even a sign on the side of the building but it's now torn out.
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