A couple of years ago I went to Barbados in the off-season (August). There were so many abandoned buildings, hotels, houses. Some were closed till the next season, but some... lost business ventures, corrupt partners, caprice of fashion, who knows?

I only took pictures of two places, and here is one, The Lost Hotel. It was built in the 70's or 80's, operating as a sort of British/European everything included resort, but on a very small, intimate scale. The architecture was incredible, kind of 'what very imaginative people can do with cement, glass block, and curves' genre. There were curved walls inset with glass block clerestories, central living rooms, small but elegant en-suite kitchens, balconies or patios with every suite, and most remarkably, still residents. Perhaps some of the hotel had gotten sold as condos, or the old owner still lived there?

It was set on sort of the main drag of Barbados, the highway that winds itself around the island, in an area close to the bristling downtown, a sort of comfortable suburban enclave. I found various brochures at the time showing the hotel as a family resort, a kicky young singles resort, a one-step-up-from-a-hostel. It was still in some of the local hotel databases, and I always wondered if someone ever booked a room only to end up... lost.

Most of the buildings were coming apart, though some doors were open and there was furniture and appointments (dishes, cushions, beds) everywhere in various stages of decay. But there were two to four buildings in the back that still had people living in them. Cars came and went, lights came on and off, doors had working locks and windows were intact. I even saw the heads of people a couple of times through the curtains. But the other 10 or so units were... gone.

I apologize for the terrible quality of many of the pictures -- I took them at night, with my very simple camera, and I'm no photographer. I also really wish I had photos of the inside, but I don't.


Welcome to the lost hotel!

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Pick a suite.

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Maybe something poolside?

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Your suite!

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And now, time for a swim...

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One of my favorite things was the Narnian lamp post.

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this place has sort of a spooky zombie apocalypse feel to it

It DID have a zombie feel -- a lot of the abandoned Barbadon buildings do. I think it was the huge palms and fecund plants. There are also a lot of tiny shotgun houses that were built to be portable but which looked semi-abandoned even when they were lived in...1.