JERM IX:
Built in 1904 by Richard Donald, for whom the town of Donald, Ontario was named after, the plant manufactured charcoal, wood alcohol and acetate of lime and other by-products using local timber.
JERM IX:
In 1915, The Standard Chemical Company took over the plant, which was facing financial hardships. Standard Chemical ceased operations 31 years later, in 1946, when a large scale fire finished off an already dwindling supply of local maple trees.
JERM IX:
The design fluently flows further out into the building, decorating one of the concrete chunks that hangs dangerously from the ruins above.
JERM IX:
I leap side to side above the collapsing tunnels, all the way to the end of the structure, before venturing down into them.
JERM IX:
The tunnel is in a severe state of collapse. Large wooden beams are crumbling under the weight of the concrete, and have crashed to the tunnel floor every few feet.
JERM IX:
Emerging plants are sprouting from cracks and crevices in the ceiling of the collapsing tunnels under my feet...
JERM IX:
The concrete shell remnants of the upper floors tower overhead like god's private balconies.
JERM IX:
The shell of this first building is several stories high, but there is no way up to be found.
JERM IX:
Much of the tunnels ceiling is still somewhat intact, hanging precariously in a V shape just above my head.
JERM IX:
Several evergreens now call the ruins home, living on the brief flashes of sunlight that strobe through a few holes in the high ceiling above for only a few moments each day.
JERM IX:
The shell of this first building is several stories high, but there is no way up to be found.
JERM IX:
Before leaving this first building, we stop again at the beautiful piece of graffiti that first welcomed us inside. It is a fantastic free flowing floral filigree design that accentuates and pays tribute to the reclamation of nature...
JERM IX:
...further mimicking the role of nature in the space, and telling a story that is very much capturing the here and now of the Standard Chemical Ruins.
JERM IX:
The floral filigree graffiti seemingly sprouting from a wooden door and growing like vines across the wall.
