Many skyscrapers are vacant, deserted, or in disrepair. They occasionally lose their effectiveness. They occasionally turn out to be too deadly to enter. Sometimes the individuals who set out to create them never even get around to finishing them.
Whatever the cause, these structures have histories and serve as continual reminders of their former lives to anybody who sees them in their abandoned state. This article highlights 10 notable buildings that are now vacant.
10 Sterick Building Memphis, Tennessee
In 1930, the Sterick Building was finished. It was the highest structure in the Southern United States at the time. Up until 1957, it was Tennessee’s tallest structure and was referred to as the “Queen of Memphis.” It was mostly utilized as an office building, but it also included a variety of facilities that made it a sought-after location, including a barbershop, a pharmacy, a beauty salon, offices for stockbrokers, and a bank.
In the 1960s, the structure started to deteriorate.
Improvements were made to the structure, such as a fresh coat of paint that covered the white façade with the yellow-and-tan hue it still wears today.
In 1978, the structure was included in the National Register of Historic Places. However, it was abandoned by the 1980s and is still standing today. Although there has been a lot of interest in repairing the structure, any plans to renovate it have been impossible to carry through due to environmental and legal concerns.
9 Centro Financiero Confinanzas Caracas, Venezuela
In 1990, work on a new financial district in Caracas started. David Brillembourg, an investor, was planning to lead it under the name Centro Financiero Confinanzas. “Tower of David” was provided as a moniker for it.
Sadly, Brillembourg passed away in 1993. The project was taken over by the Venezuelan government in 1994 after a banking crisis struck. Since then, no new construction has been done.
Running water, electricity, and in certain regions even windows or walls are amenities that the structure must have in order to be livable. However, hundreds of squatters migrated into the 45-story structure as Venezuela faced a severe housing shortage in 2007.
The government carried out an effort to demolish the structure and relocate its occupants in 2014.
The building is still vacant and is expected to stay that way for some time notwithstanding that action.
8 Insignia Tower Mexico City, Mexico
The 25-floor, triangular Insignia Tower, also known as Torre Insignia, was the second-tallest structure in Mexico when it was finished in 1962. It was first utilized by the management of a nearby housing development when it was first inaugurated in 1964. Once the National Bank of Public Works (also known as Banobras) moved in, it served as their headquarters until an earthquake forced them to evacuate it in 1985.
Since then, the building has been vacant. The most recent attempt to restore the decaying structure took place in 2011. Having historical value for the neighborhood, Insignia Tower features a large carillon that was played every day when the structure was occupied. A lot of people are interested in revitalizing the structure.
7 Plaza Tower New Orleans, Louisiana
One of the first structures you will see if you survey the New Orleans skyline is Plaza Tower. The 45-story skyscraper, which was finished in 1968, is still New Orleans’ third-tallest structure.
It was mostly utilized as an office building and was continuously occupied until tenants began to worry about asbestos and mold. Since such issues continued, the tower was abandoned in 2002. To get rid of the mold and asbestos, it was then completely gutted and environmentally abated.
In 2011, the building was sold at auction for an unknown sum. It is unknown if there are current intentions to rehabilitate the structure. When it was built, Plaza Tower was the highest structure in New Orleans, and it has been a constant on the city’s skyline ever since.
6 Book Tower Detroit, Michigan
The Book Skyscraper, a 13-story office building, was constructed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1916. Ten years later, the structure was joined to a 38-story tower, which took the name Book Tower.
It was the tallest structure in the city for two years before being surpassed by the Penobscot Building in 1928. It was named after the well-known local Book brothers. The structure survived the Great Depression, was still in operation, and served the community for many years.
But when economic hardships hit Detroit in the 1970s, a lot of offices and businesses departed the city. Many structures were forced to shut as a result. Despite being listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982, Book Tower was not spared from the city’s deterioration.
Book Tower has money problems. The building’s ownership changed several times as a result of lawsuits and defaulted mortgages, and the number of tenants decreased. Since the eviction of its final occupant in 2009, it has been vacant. Detroit declared intentions to turn the structure into a residential complex soon after it closed, but nothing has happened as of yet.
5 Abraham Lincoln Tower Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The 1960s saw the construction of two towers in Rio de Janeiro, including the Abraham Lincoln Tower (also known as Torre Abraham Lincoln). Only two of the project’s intended 76 apartment towers were ever constructed.
The architects were Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa, who also collaborated on the design of Brasilia, the Brazilian capital. Torre Abraham Lincoln’s construction started in 1969 but was put on hold in 1972 owing to worries regarding structural integrity. It never got finished.
Torre Charles de Gaulle, its identical twin tower, stands adjacent to it and is completely finished and inhabited. Nearly a perfect representation of what Torre Abraham Lincoln may have become is Torre Charles de Gaulle.
4 Fontainebleau Resort Las Vegas, Nevada
The Las Vegas Fontainebleau Resort, the newest structure on this list, started construction in 2007. A hotel and resort were to be housed in a 220-meter-tall (725-foot) tower.
Once finished, it would have been the highest structure in Las Vegas, bringing in even more money for the city. The recession then began.
Banks who had initially committed to lending upwards of $800 million to finish the project withdrew, which resulted in legal disputes between those banks and Fontainebleau. This resulted in Fontainebleau (which already has a site in Miami, Florida) declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in 2009. The undertaking was never revived.
On the Las Vegas Strip, the incomplete 68-story structure is visible. New projects and even sales of the site to new entities have been discussed after development was stopped. The high-application rise’s to install a new exterior was granted, it was announced in April 2017. Uncertainty surrounds the building’s future ambitions.
3 Burj Al Murr Beirut, Lebanon
Burj Al Murr, a 34-floor structure with seven basement levels in Beirut, has a lengthy and significant history. The skyscraper was initially intended to serve as both an office complex and a mall. The building’s construction came to an end in 1975, right before the Lebanese Civil War broke out.
The building was quickly occupied by an armed militia and used as a tactical location during battles in Beirut because of its height and location. Lower levels were served as prisons, while the top floors were apparently utilized for firing into the city.
There are several tales regarding what transpired to the structure when it was in use during the conflict.
Burj Al Murr remained a towering structure despite the conflict having mostly wrecked Beirut.
The structure had sustained enough damage after the conflict ceased that it could no longer be used for development. It just remains tall now as a symbol of the war that devastated the city just a few decades ago.
2 Sathorn Unique Bangkok, Thailand
The Sathorn Unique was a structure that perished as a result of a deteriorating economy, similar to the Fontainebleau Resort.
In Bangkok, Thailand, there is a 49-floor skyscraper called The Sathorn Unique. In 1990, the building’s construction got underway while the local economy was booming. The structure was rising steadily and managed to reach its peak just before the Asian financial crisis hurt the country’s economy.
Building development was put on hold due to a lack of funding and the building’s designer being detained for a murder conspiracy. It still hasn’t started up.
The Sathorn Unique is referred to as the “Ghost Tower” nowadays. There are many rumors that the abandoned, graffiti-covered high-rise is possessed. Along with ghost hunters and adrenaline seekers, it also draws vandals and squatters searching for a place to unwind.
It got so bad that the building was forced to be permanently closed to the public. The tower is still occasionally entered by trespassers, nevertheless. There are no current plans to complete Sathorn Unique’s construction. It might never be finished because of how much it has degraded.
1 Ryugyong Hotel Pyongyang, North Korea
In 1987, construction on this enormous tower began in Pyongyang. It was anticipated that the structure would have been the highest hotel in the world if it had been finished on schedule. The Ryugyong Hotel was the first structure with more than 100 stories that wasn’t in New York City or Chicago. The biggest hotel in the world is still under construction.
Construction of the Ryugyong Hotel came to an end in 1992, just before the Soviet Union fell. North Korea’s economy entered a crisis, forcing the nation to postpone the project.
The structure, which had already reached its maximum height, remained a massive concrete eyesore for 16 years. Then, in 2008, after an Egyptian corporation took over the project, building began back again. Before development was suspended once more, a glass facade was put to the structure but no interior work had been completed.
The building’s initial opening was ultimately set for 2013 as well. But because the inside was not finished, that was abandoned. There have been a few reports about the building opening since then, but none of them have come true.
Ryugyong Hotel’s construction hasn’t been finished after thirty years. When the structure will formally open its doors is uncertain.