Southwestern Portland Cement (Pt 5)

I stopped by for quick look around the outer perimeter:


View Southwestern Portland Cement in a larger map

The walk around the front silo takes you through a grassy area to a couple of buildings that are almost completely demolished.  Little remains of the building closest to the railroad tracks.

Demolished

The destruction in this area is more mechanical than from the ravages of time.  Next to it is a larger building that has a large section opened up.

All opened up

These two buildings were not safe to enter so I rounded around the front and back into complex interior to see if anything was different.

Front entrance

After passing under the offices I went back into the 3 story building, in the process spooking off four of the largest pigeons I have ever seen. I noticed something comical on the electrical panel that I hadn’t noticed before:

Sense? This makes none.

I had a flashlight with me this time but didn’t have the time to go into the offices.  I want to get in there soon before it gets cold.  I’ll have less of a chance of crossing somebody who might be using it as shelter.

1 stack down
One stack down

Interesting side note, in the ongoing Asarco demolition, the smallest stack above was just demolished on Tuesday afternoon.  The channel 9 news had video and made mention that the remaining two stacks are scheduled for demo in February.

Full Flickr set here: Southwestern Portland Cement 5

Return to Southwestern Portland Cement

For a few months I’ve been exploring an abandoned industrial plant located at the corner of Executive and the Border Highway, the Southwestern Portland Cement Plant.


View Southwestern Portland Cement in a larger map

In this trip I concentrated on the back portion of the complex. There is a cluster of buildings that are interconnected and appear to be in better condition than the front sections of the plant:

Wear Goggles
Wear Goggles!

The walls were painted and boxes of equipment were scattered around. One portion had the remains of an office complete with a 2006 calender on the wall.

Warehouse Office
Warehouse Office

This area was quite striking in comparison to the older portions.  Sure, it was still a mess but it had some cool items of late 90’s vintage:

Click death anyone?
Click death anyone?

Continuing on through the warehouse to the outside, there was a small yard diesel parked out back.

Yard Train
Salty’s had better days

As I began to make my way back into the warehouse, I heard a truck coming around the corner.  Since I’m not sure if the owners would like me wandering around their abandoned factory, I darted behind a shed.  The truck parked out of my view by the warehouse and soon I could hear somebody whistling a tune.  I figured I wasn’t in much danger and continued to take pictures outside while the pied piper was inside.  After a few minutes, he appeared in a doorway nearby.  As he turned to me I greeted him, “Hi”.  Startled, he let out an “Aye cabrón!”. Luckily he wasn’t security, just a Cemex worker.

We chatted for a bit and he told me that Cemex rents this portion of the plant for storage explaining the somewhat refurbished condition. Seeing that I was taking pictures, he asked if I was interested in buying the place. I told him “No” and he said that was good because it would take a lot of money to clean up the asbestos.  I now had my answer to this plants demise.

I still have one area left I would like to visit, the old front office. I may try to get to it soon because I’m not sure how much longer ill have access through the front.  The road has been recently torn up by the ever advancing El Paso Water Utilities purple pipe project:

Road Closed
Road Closed

The full Flickr set can be viewed here: Portland Cement (pt.4)

The previous Flickr sets can be viewed here:
Set Three 6/21/2011
Set Two  5/16/2011
Set One 5/10/2011

This Old Round House

On the outskirts of Canutillo, visible from I-10 is a rather curious structure. Sitting in the desert is a dome shaped, round concrete house.  As a kid, I could recall seeing it when we would travel west and it would immediately conjure up images of what living in the “future” must be like.

I never got to see the house up close but you easily could see the domed concrete roof, gazebo and diving boards from the freeway.  It was right out of an episode of “That’s Incredible” or “Real People”, where they would show some family living off the grid in a solar dome in New Mexico making their own gasoline from corn or something.

On a recent trip to pick up firewood in Las Cruses, I scanned for it as we passed where it should have been. Either I had missed it or something was blocking my view because I didn’t see it.  I checked Bing maps’ “birds-eye-view” and found an image of it so at least when Bing went live it was still there:

The Canutillo Round House

Hmmm, It didn’t look as fantastic as I remembered but hey its standing.  I headed to check it out in person and see what it would be like to live in a future from the 70’s.

The futures not so bright

The site was less Barbarella and more Mad Max. The main house has collapsed on itself and unkempt shrubs and weeds were everywhere.

That was a dome idea

Upon closer inspection you get a sense that the construction was a little less refined than it appeared from afar and whoever built it really liked concrete.  Not only was the roof concrete but the exterior walls, gazebo and weird tubular perimeter fence were cement. The interior walls also have rocks embedded in them in a rather haphazard pattern.

Nice fountain
Nice fountain

I couldn’t get a feel for what the interior would have looked like due to the roof collapse.  It was apparent that nobody has lived here in a long time.  The interior has been stripped and graffiti covers every surface.

All tagged up
All tagged up

The pool must have been a sight in it’s heyday. You can imagine all manner of 70’s disco parties taking place here; mustaches, corvettes, polyester and cocaine.

Poolside
Poolside

It would be interesting to know what caused the owners to abandon their hip outpost. Judging by the lack of any insulation, keeping this place cool or hot might have been a chore. Maybe they were bankrupted by the acres of concrete layed in casting this place.  One things for sure, you don’t get up and leave your house unmonitored in Canutillo.  That’s asking for gangs to move in.

915!
915!

It was a bummer seeing this place in such disarray.  Much like my fantasy future of geodesic dome living never panned out, it didn’t for the owners here either.  The hard truth is given enough time, concrete will crack no matter how much you pour.

A bigger walk through is here: This Old Round House.

Lost Foundations

El Paso’s downtown area is kind of unique. Many if its buildings have remained relatively unchanged since their initial construction.  Sure, businesses have come and gone and some new buildings have replaced old dilapidated or damaged structures.  For the most part though, we have retained in continual use many of the buildings and homes that date back to the early 1900’s.

The neighborhoods in central El Paso and in the Sunset heights area retain their older character as well.  As they say, you can’t stop progress and with construction of the I-10 freeway, it would obliterate a few hundred homes and businesses that ran along its route.

Downtown El Paso before I-10

On both sides of Prospect St. were it croses over the freeway there are 2 distinct areas were a few remnants of these buildings once sat.


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Parking up on the north side of prospect, you find the first set of stairs to nowhere:

Lost Prospect
Lost Prospect

What’s fascinating is that in addition to the stairs the foundations are largely intact.  The walls may be long gone but somebody still resides here:

Shirt Curtains
Shirt Curtains

On the south end of Prospect St. there is a larger area that was once apartments. There may be some other reason that they are no longer standing as they seem to be situated closer to the historic San Francisco neighborhood and out of the range of the freeway.

Let Love Enter
Let Love Enter

This plat of land had more of an archaeological dig feel to it. Large sections of sidewalk and wall foundations are easily identifiable.

The dig site
The dig site

And just like the other side there are various signs vagrant activity. Old shoes, mattresses and camp like sites were butted up against the few remaining walls.

The throne room
Dr. Jones! We found the throne room!

The tile entryway in one of the buildings was still intact, you don’t find build quality like that anymore:

tile floor
A little Swiffer wet-jet action and its good as new

I had to split as I was parked illegally on Prospect St. but I did get a few more interesting shots that can be found here: Lost Foundations