London Buildings
I'm into the final quarter of my rewrite and my MC is tracking down the villains. At the moment I've got them located in unspecified abandoned London warehouses. I have a ceremony with supernatural influences taking place at a solar eclipse, so I've given the warehouse a skylight. Seems like a bit of a cop out.
I've tried the usual internet search to find any interesting unused London buidlings, but without much success. Does anyone with London knowledge have any suggestions or could anyone point me in the right direction for material on old buildings?
All help much appreciated.
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http://www.locationworks.com/library.php?cat=74
see also: empty, derelict, ruined :: warehouses :: light industry :: docks, ships, nautical
Along a river is always a good place to look - dock buildings are BIG. And mostly not used as dock buildings any more.
Have a look on Google Earth eastwards from the Thames Barrier.
http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/standrewsbow.html
Where I live the old hospital has been turned into flats (quite expensive ones I would imagine).
http://www.derelictlondon.com/hospitals.html
Also, I don't know if you watch them but I watch quite a lot of YouTube videos where people explore abandoned buildings. If you were also looking for extra details these may be good videos to check out. I went through a huge phase of watching A LOT of them.
I think the theme parks, hotels and mansions/houses are best, although it's hard to fit in a theme park in London but there's deffo some great details/buildings (like a grand theatre or a ride design) in theme parks that could add some great visuals. I also find a lot of abandoned places tend to be very creepy, especially hospitals when there's a random wheelchair in the hallway. Also a lot of junkies tend to raid the stock room for needles and stuff... Oh and with houses people tend to leave all their stuff behind which can add to the creep factor and also the opportunity for characters using random improvised weapons? There's sometimes still pictures of the people that lived there and people tend to gather a good picture of who used to live there and what their life was like from the stuff left behind.
But yeah with London it could be hard as most things get redeveloped pretty quick and are rather close to civilisation. With a mansion though you can design it how you want, and some of these mansions on YouTube do have some pretty out there stuff and rooms. A lot of people who tend to have owned them were drug dealers or people who did dodgy stuff with business. And tend to have that 'psychopath' type of personality... Like there was one who was a drug dealer and also trophy hunted, and like had all the animals stuffed and they were dotted all around the house and had their own butchery and abattoir built in the basement. Another drug dealer had a huge part of his garden dedicated to dog fighting, and things like that with like a bar and a swimming pool, so he'd throw parties, and the people would also bet on these animals fighting against each other. The world of abandoned buildings can be a dark one. The majority of the mansions are designed the purpose of partying and extravagance though.
Oh if you want to up the creep factor add in kids toys, or like a play room or nursery or children's ward.
Realistically a lot of places have security (like abandoned schools) and most have been trashed by teenagers/people who have had an illegal party there - so there will be graffiti, smashed mirrors etc. And some places have squatters/homeless people. Some that have gotten really old you may want to consider whether the characters would need to wear one of those mask to stop mould etc entering their lungs? And hospitals tend to still have working electric for quite a while after they are abandoned, where as most places are cut off, so you might want to consider how some of the rooms are lit, and how they can contribute to the scene and at night they also tend to not want to shine light near windows in case someone sees and call the police or there's security. Oh some have alarms, so the maybe the characters only have a certain amount of time to be there before security turn up?
Hope this helps!!
The second one is 144 Picadilly, The ex home of Palmerston, the site of a famous sixties squat.
Battersea power station is being developed - it still looks like a ruin but the area is such a building site,
I walked the whole length of Regent's Canal a few weeks ago and I think it has all been developed now, but I am not sure. But I wonder about listed buildings? There is a tower at Limehouse which has been restored, It contains mechanism for the dock, The Paddington Basin is very much under development and the only site of any archetral interest is the gas works This is storage dome, which might have the exoticism your require,
Looking at what you require, the Peckham carpark might be best?
'At No. 144, one of the mansions between Hamilton Place and Apsley House, Lord Palmerston was living about the time of the Crimean War, and shortly before his acceptance of the Premiership. His lordship removed thence to Cambridge House, of which we have already spoken as being now the Naval and Military Club.'
I got the Cannon Street train this morning and the second building on the left - just before you cross the river - seems to be a deserted warehouse, You want to look along thd edge of railways lines as well as rivers and canals. The Regent's Canal joins other canals and, if you go past Kensal Green, you do come to a deserted area. The River Lee might be an option too.
If you chose an area and e.mail the local studies library, they will help with your query.
It is Tobacco Dock I was thinking off, I don't know what happened there, but an attempt to turn the area in retail space flopped completely.
... and yes, I've had to do this several times when confronted with something instinctively out of my happy zone.
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