The Harworth Glass Bulb factory in Yorkshire, UK was built in 1949 with the purpose of supplying Great Britain’s light bulb manufacturers – ALL of them – with the glass portions of their bulbs. A mound of unused ground glass sits forlornly in the photo at top, seemingly poised for a butterfly-like transformation into elegant glass light bulbs when the factory closed in 2006. The images above date from January of 2009 and come courtesy of DerelictPlaces.
Fading To Black
When Osram Sylvania closed their lighting products plant in Central Falls, RI in September of 2014, it was the end of a years-long process that saw the factory’s workforce shrink from around 500 to just 88. The photos above, taken by Flickr user H.C. Williams in July of 2009, depict a once-thriving industrial complex on its deathbed.
Lights Out
Built in 1922, the sprawling POLAM Philips factory in Warsaw, Poland manufactured vacuum tubes and mercury lamps until 1991 when the company went bankrupt and the factory closed.
Various attempts have been made to re-purpose the enormous building but all have failed due to extensive mercury contamination within – the result of decades of haphazard use of hazardous materials. All images c/o Urbanqatsi.
