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Probably one of the most imposingly beautiful facades I've had the good fortune of stumbling on. The long abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Opened 1829, closed 1971
ESP is unusual in that it's history by and large was uneventful. Besides being the first of its kind ever built, as well as briefly housing Al Capone, not much of note happened here. It was originally designed based on the Pennsylvania System of incarceration, a system where every prisoner was isolated, one person to a cell. They even had separate tiny exercise yards in the early days. The idea being to inspire penance (Hence the word Penitentiary), with the halls designed to look like the hall of a church. And arched windowless cells designed to mimic those that Christian monks lived in, with only a skylight for light. Talking amongst themselves was not allowed, (though prisoners got around this via a clever system of tapping on radiator pipes to communicate). This was also meant to reduce the conflict, cruelty and squalor traditional prisons of the time were known for. Eventually the Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement was abandoned around 1910, a combination of cutting costs and due to the mental suffering associated with constant isolation. Additions to the prison were added haphazardly over the years, first with the conversion of the individual exercise yards into more cells, the addition of more levels on several cell blocks, and then new blocks added between the original radial blocks of the prison. All of this created many blind spots for guards, and is thought to be part of the justification for the closing of the prison in 1971.
After it closed the prison sat abandoned for several decades, becoming a ruin. Trees grew on rooftops, walls crumbled, and it became home to a large population of stray cats. Philadelphia had no idea what to do with it. Partial demolition was considered, keeping the huge walls, but building something new in place of the crumbling prison. However, preservationists prevailed in the 1990s, and in the early 2000s it opened up for tours.
Another interesting fact, the prison was originally far outside the city limits surrounded by farms. The city expanded to surround it, and now the structure is mere blocks from downtown. And the buildings surrounding it are now so old they themselves are historic as well.
ESP is unusual in that it's history by and large was uneventful. Besides being the first of its kind ever built, as well as briefly housing Al Capone, not much of note happened here. It was originally designed based on the Pennsylvania System of incarceration, a system where every prisoner was isolated, one person to a cell. They even had separate tiny exercise yards in the early days. The idea being to inspire penance (Hence the word Penitentiary), with the halls designed to look like the hall of a church. And arched windowless cells designed to mimic those that Christian monks lived in, with only a skylight for light. Talking amongst themselves was not allowed, (though prisoners got around this via a clever system of tapping on radiator pipes to communicate). This was also meant to reduce the conflict, cruelty and squalor traditional prisons of the time were known for. Eventually the Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement was abandoned around 1910, a combination of cutting costs and due to the mental suffering associated with constant isolation. Additions to the prison were added haphazardly over the years, first with the conversion of the individual exercise yards into more cells, the addition of more levels on several cell blocks, and then new blocks added between the original radial blocks of the prison. All of this created many blind spots for guards, and is thought to be part of the justification for the closing of the prison in 1971.
After it closed the prison sat abandoned for several decades, becoming a ruin. Trees grew on rooftops, walls crumbled, and it became home to a large population of stray cats. Philadelphia had no idea what to do with it. Partial demolition was considered, keeping the huge walls, but building something new in place of the crumbling prison. However, preservationists prevailed in the 1990s, and in the early 2000s it opened up for tours.
Another interesting fact, the prison was originally far outside the city limits surrounded by farms. The city expanded to surround it, and now the structure is mere blocks from downtown. And the buildings surrounding it are now so old they themselves are historic as well.
Category Photography / Scenery
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1280 x 857px
File Size 274.4 kB
Listed in Folders
This is one of the better arguments for a historical or historicist architecture, these walls would stand shoulder to shoulder with a number of European, Middle Eastern or Asian fortifications, i am so glad that the prison was conserved instead of demolished, great picture :)
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