Cavorting in Kiev
Thu, Oct 16th, 2008
posted by Barry Kooda

Well...Not so much cavorting as sneaking around. Of the two buildings I was able to explore tonight, this was the first. It's a three story with a basement that is full of debris and dirt up to a few feet deep. The interior is plaster over wood lattice and it's all pretty much turned back into powder.To get to it, I had to go through the other building (Building 1) and across a common courtyard which is now used for parking. Both buildings look to be over 100 years old but I really have no idea. Both have been abused for a very long time but this one is truly dangerously decrepit. When I got to the upper floors, it was obvious that there had been fires, floor collapses and more of both are extremely likely. The entry point wasn't visible in the main photo but was obvious when I walked around to the back wall in the first of the gallery photos. The plywood covered a hole in the bricks where a door once was. It may close again soon but who knows? There are decades of cool debris including old Soviet caps and such along with years of grass clippings and forgotten Christmas trees. It was pretty sketchy and I gashed my head a bit going over a debris cone and under some low hanging metal ducting. All stair rails are long gone and a misstep could prove fatal so BE CAREFUL in there.
I liked it even though I did bleed a little for the experience.