Virjune Manufacturing Co: Inside Waterbury's Vacant Factory

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J and I were already having a rough day. We'd just driven across town to check out an old industrial site he hadn't visited in a while, only to find it erased. Nothing left but a slab of concrete and chain-link fence. So we took a detour. Sometimes you salvage a disappointing afternoon with a backup plan, even if you're just ticking a box. The former Virjune plant hides in plain sight off Thomaston Avenue. If you drive past in summer, you'll miss it completely. Trees and shrubs swallow the building whole, nature reclaiming what industry left behind. Come winter, though, when the branches go bare and the world turns gray, the red brick skeleton reveals itself. Even then, you have to know where to look. I pulled up old Sanborn maps to trace the building's history. The earliest tenant was an auto body shop in 1922. By February 1950, something bigger had moved in. The map labels it simply "Stamping Wks." No company name. No flourish. Just function. That namele...
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Abandoned Mystery Hotel



A curious case of no found history.

Today I present the 'Mystery Hotel' because the only relevant real estate information that could be found for this property all points to the category listed as hotels and classed as a miscellaneous hotel for land use pertaining to commercial & office buildings. Nothing could be found either in the Department of Buildings database using two known addresses for this property. I searched and searched for property records pertaining to the past uses and occupants of this commercial building but came up empty. Hopefully, in the future when development comes to this property I can write up a new update. But for now, enjoy these exterior shots I shot a few weeks ago.

Former Hotel Entrance

Cross Street View

Now just used to store local school buses.

About a month ago, there was a visible entrance inside the driveway. Someone had broken through the cinder blocked doorway and made their way inside probably to scrap for metal. Upon my return, it was sewn up again with no other entrances possible but the third-story window in front of a busy one-way avenue. Currently, the land is used to park and store school buses for the surrounding schools of this distinct residential neighborhood.



Update:


As of 4/10/2022, the building was demolished earlier this year for a proposed residential building.


Comments

  1. JohnApril 13, 2017 at 7:18 AM

    This building is very similar to Ostermoor in Bridgeport. Both are in residential neighborhoods and have the entrances sealed with cinder blocks. The scrapper must have used a sledgehammer to gain access.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kareem KingApril 13, 2017 at 9:05 AM

      The owner definitely does not want anyone inside. Definitely scrapper invasion.

      Delete

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