Action House 9th september 2003

Action House started it's life as a hotel. It then went on to server several other functions including a court house, local administrative center and a leaning institute before being abandoned just a few years ago.

Action House consist of two buildings. A relatively modern 2 story building and an older, historically classified 6 wing sprawling building.

I had seen the buildings a few times when driving past it, but only stopped in with a fellow explorer a while ago. The place has appalling security. Just a temporary fence around it with no barb wire along the top at all. Once we found a nice spot to jump the fence we wandered in. It was apparent that the place was being stripped by scavengers. In places brass and copper fittings were being removed. Some of the wooden panels had been removed as well. Hot water services had been moved in preparation for removal. Someone was doing a bit of a job stealing what scrap metal they could from the buildings.

The old entrance way from a fly screened window on the second floor.

Staircase between ground floor and upper floor. Each of the 6 building wings had it's own staircase to their upper floor, being connected to the main core at ground level only.

Long hallways on the ground floor of 'A' wing.

An office in 'A' Wing. Note the board in the cupboard removed to allow easy access to remove copper pipe.

Another long hallway.

Hallway on upper floor of A block.

This whiteboard in the hallway was removed the next time we visited. Note the local telephone distributor box.

Another office (slightly too heavy compression on the JPG I think).

Self portrait.

A rather pink bathroom.

Another pink bathroom.

Janitor's closet.

Most of the offices had sinks in them, reflecting their past usage as hotel rooms.

Power distribution board.

Long hallways.

And many staircases.

Old school wooden banisters.

Looking down the center hallway in B Block.

Unusual spot for a power distribution cabinet, or is that a switchboard?

Office space.

Everything including the kitchen sink.

This is one of the two darkrooms at Action House. The big orange tub probably held fixer or developing chemicals.

View through a window.

Another janitor's closet.

An audiology room. This room was fitted with sound absorbing tiles. Note that this section had power on.

There were also several of these climate controlled rooms which were probably used for storing historical records in. This is consistent with some of the tasks carried out by the last tenants.

Another office.

Some one had a slight problem with a fire in this office. Or possibly some one has removed the copper pipe from the sink here.

Still life with sink, poster, mirror and door.

A long hallway partially lit by electric light.

The Central building.

This was probably the original kitchen when the building was a hotel.

Passageways that lead to nowhere.

I didn't really capture this well due to failing light, but this is a big huge room that could easily hold a couple of hundred people. It was probably once the main dining room. It was last used as a library.

Looking out towards the main courtyard.

Looking out the side towards the function rooms. Note the gaps in the carpet left for book shelves.

A small server room near the library.

A large function room with graffiti on the outside of the windows.

The central part of the building from the main courtyard. It's quite big.

The main building again.

Looking back down the courtyard to the newer 3 story building.

The main building again this time from off towards the side between two of the wings.

The boiler rooms, to the left.

Valves, Valves, More valves and a couple of boilers.

Boilers.

View of the main building middle left, and 'B' wing on the right.

Looking down the stairs with center building in middle view.

C Block stank badly because of mildew. This was caused by two holes in the roof where something had fallen through. We expect this will probably have been caused by debris falling out of the sky when the near by hospital was blown up a few years ago. It was supposed to be an implosion but the engineers used too much explosive and blew it up instead. Bits of it fell down into the nearby lake and surrounding buildings and parks, killing a teenage girl and causing many near misses.

Messy closet.

Some of these offices were very well equipped.

Staircase to lower floor.

A very nicely done office with lots of wood paneling and two hidden doorways.

Ahh, the uses of soap. The only signs we left of our presence here. It's harmless and washes off.

Poster on the wall

Well lit hallway.

C block taken from the main courtyard in the evening twilight.