Left in the hands of nature by residents fleeing Tehran, these ordinary houses have become backdrops for an extraordinary series of photographs by Gohar Dashti, born during the Islamic Revolution.

Dubbed Home, the series is about the power of nature in the wake of human absence. She was inspired to begin the project after returning to her hometown and discovering a single plant on the deck of a neighboring house.

“It had flourished in their absence,” she recalls, “and its neck now curved against its own weight. It had the power to stay there. Left alone, it would eventually consume and conquer the home.” From there, she began to shoot organic scenes as well as staged setups to illustrate the overwhelming forces of nature, extrapolating reclamation based on a combination of reality and imagination.

More about the artist: “Gohar Dashti received her M.A. in Photography from the Fine Art University of Tehran in 2005. After studying photography in Iran, she has spent the last 14 years making the large scale of her practice concerning in social issues with particular references to history and culture through a convergence of interest in anthropology and sociology.”

“She tries with her own means to express the world around her. Her starting point is always her surrounding, her memory, but with her very personal perception of things. She tries to trace her relationship to society and the world in it’s most sensitive way. Her practice continuously develops from life events and connection between the personal and the universal, the political and the fantasised.”

The Chee Guan Chiang House at 25 Grange Rd in Singapore occupies land worth millions yet stubborn owners and protective authorities ensure it remains abandoned.

Home On The Grange

The so-called Chee Guan Chiang House at 25 Grange Rd (corner of Grange and Devonshire) in central Singapore dates back to the late 1930s. It was commissioned by the eponymous Chee Guan Chiang, the first son of Malacca-based banking tycoon Chee Swee Cheng.

Rich Man, Singapore Man

After demolishing an earlier home occupying the plot, the younger Chee hired well-known Singapore architect Ho Kwong Yew to build him a distinctive mansion in the then-current Art Deco style. Ho, recognized today as a leader of the “Modern Movement” in Singapore, incorporated earlier architectural flourishes such as a Roaring Twenties-style grand staircase into the home’s otherwise cutting-edge design.

Leonie Toons

The home was completed in 1938 but Chee Guan Chiang didn’t stay there long – following the end of WW2, the building was renamed the Leonie House and catered to mainly foreign boarders and tourists. New management took over the business in 1964, changing the name to the New Leonie Guest House.

The Other WH

If this isn’t confusing enough, in October of 2013 Yvonne Lee-Khoo (a grand-daughter of Chee Guan Chiang) posted an article at the Singapore URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) online forum. Ms Lee-Khoo explained that the house was originally named “Wellington House”: the word “well” meaning “good” and sounding like “wealthy”. To this day, wrought iron balustrades both inside and outside of the house prominently feature the “WH” motif.

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Grange Grunge Abandoned Art Deco Mansion In Singapore

This abandoned house in Kaua’i molders away just steps from a rusty old factory where the Hawaiian island’s bounteous sugar cane harvest once was processed.

Sucrose for Comfort

Sugar cane was traditionally grown by native Hawaiians, and the first commercially successful sugar cane plantation on Kaua’i was established in 1835. Some remnants of these early enterprises still stand, such as the ruined brick chimney of the Old Sugar Mill of Koloa, dating from 1840.

Cane Unable

Kaua’i is blessed with fertile soil and abundant rainfall, making it ideal for growing sugar cane. The industry dominated the island for over a century but in the post-war era, many of the old plantations either sold out to ranchers or simply shut down, leaving copious industrial and residential infrastructure in place.

Sugar Shack on Steroids

Flickr member Eli Duke scored a rare urbex double-header back in March of 2009 when his photo-documented visit to Kaua’i included both an abandoned sugar plantation house and – on the very same day – a nearby abandoned sugar cane processing factory.

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Home Sweet Abandoned Kauai Sugar Plantation House

An abandoned Me Decade-themed home in the Richmond, VA suburb of Bon Air looks as if a low-budget zombie flick was filmed at The Brady Bunch house.

Sure, Zombie Jan

Time was, beautiful Bon Air was The Place To Be for weary Richmonders eager to escape the Virginia capitol’s summer heat, humidity and air pollution. Better Bon Air than bad air, one might say. In fact, the charming resort town situated just a few miles west in the lush hills of Chesterfield County chose its french-ified name to be its enduring claim to fame.

Rooms & Boards

Serviced via three stops on the old Southern Railway, Bon Air blossomed in the pre-automobile era. The town continued to thrive through the 1950s, when suburbanization enhanced the burg’s appeal as a bedroom community for white-collar Richmonders.

Stepping Down

Every boom eventually busts and Bon Air was no different. Bon Air’s population rose by about 50 percent between 1970 and 1980 but then stagnation set in: over the last four decades the number of people calling Bon Air home has barely changed. Other things in Bon Air stagnated as well… some, not so well.

Pink Houses

Take this abandoned home in the decaying heart of Bon Air – seems like no one else will. Photographer and urbex explorer Joel Handwerk of Lithium Photo stopped by recently and snapped some shots of the once-respectable wood framed family house that’s deteriorating with a vengeance, both inside and out.

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Groovy Grimy Abandoned 70s Home In Bon Air

Between fireworks and thunder, it can be hard to watch your best friend cower and howl when noises beyond your control dominate the soundscape. This noise-cancelling kennel aims to provide shelter from auditory storms, an more robust alternative to hiding in the closet.

Developed by Ford Europe, the structure employs a combination of sound insulation and, critically, the technology used for noise-cancellation in the company’s automobiles.

Adapted to frequencies that most impact canine companions, microphones pick up the sounds of explosions and other loud bursts, then counteracts them with mitigating frequencies.

A combination of soundproof ventilation, acoustic isolation panels and speakers alter the incoming soundscape to create a refuge, all packaged within an angular minimalist kennel frame.