Looking back at a warmer time when I popped around to this beautiful Seminary which is still quite active although I do think that they are operating far from their capacity.
The Seminary was founded by the Right Reverend Michael F. Fallon in 1912 with the present seminary building constructed in the the 1920's and the opening / dedication on September 29th, 1926. To the left is an image of the Seminary's first graduating class in 1912.
The seminary building is designed in the collegiate gothic style and constructed of Credit Valley stone with Tyndall stone decoration. A wing was added to the Seminary in 1957, providing a new auditorium and recreational facilities. The library was also expanded at that time by changing the cloister into a reading room.
The front doors of this structure is just about the most beautiful creation in wood I have ever seen.
This recreational facility added in the late 1950's appears like a time capsule from that era with the garish splash of a 1980's couch standing in stark comparison.
In the same room, is a lovely wood-paneled bar. I can almost imagine students gathered here at the end of the day swigging on soda-pop and singing their fav psalms accompanied by this ancient piano.
I would seriously love to get a guided tour of the absolutely glorious / beautiful Chapel Of St. Thomas Aquinas
"Trinity" . . . Yep - - Please expect a set of three posts here as well another excellent video from yours truly. This is Post #2 of 3 of a recent rural exploration I took in with our most excellent UrbEx buddy neX who acted as local guide in this neck of the woods near Aurora. For the first post, look HERE. Following, is a video summary of the Aurora Trinity Session . . . Look for some waggish / witty exchanges between neX and myself in the video - I usually leave my captured video mute, but this was too priceless not to share.
~
Obtaining a POE at this location was as easy as getting laid at a cougar bar. Greeting us in the garage was this lovely antique night-stand, complete with jar 'o' Vaseline - These jars are indigenous to nightstands and only recently their numbers have been declining due to the introduction of newer lubricant species such as KY Jelly and An*l Lube.
This second house was certainly more grand (and modern) than its neighbouring abandonment adjacent to it to the east. The entrance especially so with its two-storey columns.
The front entry hall was no less grand than its outside entrance. The colours here were a refreshing neutral colour but the stair railing perhaps a bit on the ornate side. It appears that subjects unknown had already liberated the railings ringing the hall on the upper floor. I strongly suggest fall arrest equipment for any explorer who may be exposed to a falling hazard of 3 meters or more.
We now move from the grandiose entry hall to the upstairs washroom. The appalling choice of the coloured ceramics left no doubt in my mind that the former occupants had no capacity or sense for interior decoration. The only saving grace for this house was of course the Epic WIN Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. With Jason (Red), Zack (Black), Billy (Blue), and Trini (Yellow), this once mundane wall became a chamber of heroes.
Someone left a perfectly good looking COLOUR television set in one of the rooms upstairs. I was happy to see that a$$-hat vandals did not find their way into here yet. I was also equally happy that the afore-mentioned miscreants did not find these beautifully-croqueted hangers and unravel them.
Anywho, stay tuned for the third and last post in this our Aurora Trinity Session. I will leave you off with this image of CopySix and exploring buddy neX posing living room of House #2 in the for the cam and being all awesome.
"Trinity" . . . Yep - - Please expect a set of three posts here as well another excellent video from yours truly. This is Post #1 of 3 of a recent rural exploration I took in with our most excellent UrbEx buddy neX who acted as local guide in this neck of the woods near Aurora.
This old farmhouse had a very lovely addition to it on the east side (not shown here). Surrounding by residential and commercial development on all sides, this location gave a flavour as to what a working farm looked like here less than a decade ago.
It had appeared that the last time an interior decorator popped around to this place may have been in the late '70's / early '80's. You may call this hideous and want to beat the former owners with a style stick, but I call the shizzle 'retro-licious' !
There is a theme most avian to these two images. One is of a bookshelf in the west living room retro-fitted to house an aviary. The other is a robin, quite dead in the basement . . . or perhaps just asleep / dreaming and pining for the fiords.
Here in the image on the left, my narcissistic side is showing itself in my photographic work. I am also somewhat 'hooked' on this image on the right taken from the front hall . . . (get it - - 'hooked' ! - that was a funny there).
The stairs and arrangement of rooms upstairs were very typical to just about every other farmhouse I had been in dating from this era. The only bit of interest to be had up here was the interior electrical wiring exposed by the removed floor-board (image on right). Unfortunately that image did not really turn out.
I have noted with a casual interest that in many abandonments, I have explored, the previous owners often leave behind toilet plungers and brushes. Although I am rather certain that there is a good reason for this, the answer is presently just beyond my grasp. Also, it was noted that this house was operating with an older version of Windows from which I am sure they had a beautiful rural vista.
This particular barn did not hold much interest for me, that being said in comparison to the wonderful barn neX toured through which will be revealed in our third Aurora Rural-Ex Trinity post.
~Stay tuned kiddies, more to come. Until next time, Happy + Safe Exploring.
My apologies in advance . . . this post has very little to do with the hobby of urban exploration. I promise to have something promising next week when I go exploring with one of my fav explorer-chicks 'Simmorill'. This explorer / blogger has been rather busy again this past week indulging in the dreaded activity called 'summer family vacation'. This particular vacation involved camping in the wilds of northern Ontario where only the bold or insane venture.
Let us just say that upon my return home from said vacation, I spent a rather long time in my bathroom admiring the modern convenience of a flush toilet and hot / cold running water. After this, I meandered over to the bed to take in the glorious feel of clean linen.
I would have spent some of my time exploring but the flying / biting / fire-breathing insects of northern Ontario decided that I would make a very lovely buffet. All that I can provide to you at this time is a short video taken at the nearby garbage dump of Dunchurch. In all, there were four bears, two raccoons, and a flock of dump-ducks . . . Enjoy !
First things first . . .
The reason we had found ourselves at the dump - - - apparently there was no place to plug in the curiously-absent television set in our tent. My three kids require only one of two things . . . television or Novacaine®. The next best thing a good father could provide in this situation is taking the monsters, I mean children, on this time-honoured traditional activity of those poor souls who have no cabel . . . a trip to the dump to take in the sights and smells.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the most horrible of stenches . . . it was sour, sickly-sweet, putrid, and acrid all at once. It was then I realised two things . . . that the van windows were shut tightly and that we were all in very dire need of a bath. We wandered over to the tipping face - a ledge with a eight-foot drop and immediately spotted black bears, specifically 'Ursus Americanus'. Even more specifically, Ursus Dumpus.
As we watched these graceful creatures claw through garabe bags and eat diaper burritos, I saw a curious creature unkown to me. It was completely round, fur-covered, had a waddling gait, and moved about on unseen appendages. Only when the critter lifted its head to clear its gullet of rancid fat did I realise what this animal was . . . the world's largest raccoon.
It's proper name, Procyon lotor, roughly translates from the latin as 'one who washes'. This is due to the raccoon's habit of 'washing' their food in water. As I watched in morbid curiosity this raccoon eat a variety of unsanitary sanitary products and anything else that may have been in those garbage bags, I did not note any washing of food whatsovever. Anywho . . . this beast, the size of small dalmation, most likely weighed in just over 45 kilos (100 pounds) and the dump bears steered a wide berth of this municipal monster.
The point I try to make here is that some parts of northern Ontario is no fit place for an "Urban" explorer to wander around . . .
The Seminary was founded by the Right Reverend Michael F. Fallon in 1912 with the present seminary building constructed in the the 1920's and the opening / dedication on September 29th, 1926. To the left is an image of the Seminary's first graduating class in 1912.
The seminary building is designed in the collegiate gothic style and constructed of Credit Valley stone with Tyndall stone decoration. A wing was added to the Seminary in 1957, providing a new auditorium and recreational facilities. The library was also expanded at that time by changing the cloister into a reading room.
The front doors of this structure is just about the most beautiful creation in wood I have ever seen.
This recreational facility added in the late 1950's appears like a time capsule from that era with the garish splash of a 1980's couch standing in stark comparison.
In the same room, is a lovely wood-paneled bar. I can almost imagine students gathered here at the end of the day swigging on soda-pop and singing their fav psalms accompanied by this ancient piano.
