Ontario Abandoned Places will be rebranded as Ominous Abandoned Places

Follow The Yellow Brick Row

Demolished Mansion in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Jan 02 2022

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Recent status Demolished
Location # 18201

Hazards of Follow The Yellow Brick Row

~~Sharp Objects - Some savages smashed some windows out to access the house. Air Quality - It looks like the workers were taking out the asbestos tiles in these places. Abatement before demolition. Neighbors - Across the street mostly. This is a high traffic area, and the Iron Horse Trail behind is also STOOPID busy. Floors - The basement lath on the ceiling is in rough shape and I dont reccomend jumping on the floor essentially. Animals & Insects - YES.~~ Gated - The entire block where the houses are is essentially fenced. Driveways blocked.

LASTLY - THIS IS ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION. ~~IF YOUR NOT CAREFUL YOU CAN GET SEALED INTO A HOUSE!!!~~

History of Follow The Yellow Brick Row

2 Yellow brick MANSIONS. One (25) was the historic residence of Jacob Baetz. It was built in 1920. I personally would have thought much earlier…. The ACO North Waterloo had tried to designate the exteriors of these 2 yellow brick homes. They failed. The other (19) ~~I cant seem to dig up much info for as it was attempted to be designated as I mentioned was~~ was built in 1897 at a cost of 2100$ , but.....it is kind of overshadowed by the house next to it...And I see why…Despite the age.


APRIL 2022 - ALL GONE. DEMOLISHED.


“THE START” OF THE YELLOW BRICK……THERE ARE ONE OR 3 YELLOW HOUSES FURTHER DOWN INSIDE THIS FENCE. THE BAETZ HOUSE APPEARS TO BE RED BRICK FROM THE INTERIOR IN THE TOP FLOOR AT THE HALF MOON WINDOW.


I talked about these 2 yellow bricks when I was with /Pikaswed420 shooting the R.E.E.P House. After our tour we had a smoke and talked about the efforts of the ACO North Waterloo and the historic significance of the R.E.E.P House, and the surrounding area. I remarked that I hope that these places get designated (and I had told our tour guide that I am an Urban Explorer) and that i hope I DONT get to shoot them.

Fast forward to Dec 26th and then /TheeasyKaybreezy and I drive past and DAMN! They were vacant. I took a small selection of shitty shots at night as we scoped the row and found that the scrappers had opened the places. Seems they stole copper, but they did it in a cleaner than usual way. Not bad. One destroyed bathroom and a few holes. The rest of the damage is from the demolition crew probably testing walls and materials.

Next day I went back and shot this album, then the day after that, I took /Pikaswed420 and toured her. There were renovations down the road, and I had thought that was the random construction noises we had heard. WOW I WAS WRONG! We get done shooting the yellow brick houses and then we are shooting exteriors. I hear the drill and turn my head and on the last house on the front patio, there was a man (with a white truck behind him inside the fence) securing the houses. I threw this at another local and he confirmed that the row was being secured but at the time, these 2 appeared to still be accessible.


Mansions. Not farmhouses. They never had outbuildings, and they are/were significant due to their historic owner.


19 Mill St - Attached to the history of the Baetz House somehow, someway. Yellow brick Mansion.

25 Mill St - Baetz House. Even LARGER yellow brick Mansion.

29 Mill St - Unknown yellow brick. One floor (and I assume basement)

33 Mill St - 1920-40 I guess. Red brick house of standard build. And the original windows were salvaged. Probably secured by this date of upload on Jan 7th. I went the 26th. This was the extra place. I may get bored and go back. Still some things to shoot if they exist and are accessible.

Comments

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2 years ago

Whole row is gone now

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2 years ago

Thanks man. Sucks. Those mansions were sooo nice!