An Incredible Floor Hidden Beneath Debris For Years
The Warner & Swasey Observatory
This now abandoned observatory was built in 1919 by Worchester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey, and was donated to Case in 1920. The observatory sits atop a hill looking out over the once-thriving city below. It had formerly housed a 9.5-inch refractor (currently known as ‘the rooftop telescope.’) This building, designed by Walker and Weeks came to house several more telescopes in later years, as well as other instruments such as the 24-inch Burrell Schmidt telescope. The observatory/school also had a transit room, a darkroom, a bedroom, and an office, along with an astronomical library and a public lecture hall.
Then & Now
The domes, which housed the telescopes, are now empty, roofs stripped and torn, one barely hanging on. When I first visited, old intercoms remained placed on the walls as if they have remained still, and untouched for 40 years waiting for a call from the office.
Hidden Beneath the Rubble
In 2012, we noticed that the original green marble floor remained beneath the rubble, with a golden inlay of zodiac patterns. We had made as much of an attempt as we could at the time to clear what we could, revealing at least some of the floor.
Cleaning the Floor & Revealing History
It wasn’t until nearly 6 years later that we would gather a group to clean up the entire floor. It took us almost 7 hours to clear the debris from this room, including old broken book shelves, doors, and even a smashed up grand piano. We were able to fully uncover all 12 zodiac signs, revealing a beautiful floor that has been hidden for years beneath crumbling decay.
Check out the video below to see a time-lapse of us cleaning the room:
Decay & Vandalism
Over the years, this observatory has been a host for not only decay, but vandalism. When I had first visited, the entire structure was clear of any bit of graffiti, and only the natural decay of time was setting in. It’s kind of sad to see that people just don’t give a shit.
You can read more about this abandoned observatory in a previous post HERE
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Thanks for sharing. Its always good to see old structures and great architecture.
I spent many days and nights in the classrooms, libraries, and at the eyepieces of the giant telescopes under those domes from 1970-74. Both the frigid winter and warm summer nights watching the stars wheel above through the narrow slit of the domes, the sounds of quiet machinery moving many tons of metal and glass, finely balanced so they could move with the push of a hand. It was arcane study of the most ancient of our sciences. The science and majesty of it calls to us still today.
Now and then I still drive out to that abandoned temple of the heavens and remember fondly the time spent there in my youthful pursuit of knowledge, truth, and great mysteries.
It is lovely to see that some other travelers have stopped and found some of the beauty of the building itself, uncovered the archaeology of the ancient symbols that decorate, nay, speak of their very purpose.
The stars beckon us.
Howard Fein – Astrophysicist
What will happen to it??