Koenigin Elisabeth Children’s Hospital was built in 1908 -1910 to serve the needs of the South east Berlin area. It was opened in 1910, and served as a General Hospital, then after WW2, under the Soviets (and later the communist government of East Germany) was used as a Military hospital.

Closed in 1994, the idea was to restore the buildings to a usable state. These dreams were never fully realized as money quickly ran out. To date, only the rear most building of the entire complex was restored and is now a school for children with special needs. Otherwise, all of the buildings (U shaped main hospital – front and back above, administration house – below, and boiler / laundry building – 2nd below) have sat, rotting for about the last 15 or more years.

Here, other than graffiti artists and vandals, there have been fires, water damage, squatters and mother nature rendering these buildings dangerously beautiful – and something that a group of toytown photographers could hardly resist -especially in light of the knowledge that all of these buildings are due to be torn down later this year (There are people harvesting tiles and whatever else they can out of it now) and will soon be gone forever….

Camisole & Carnage – lead paint which has cracked and decayed over time and the heat of the fire that took out the roof 1 story above us.

Main entry foyer and staircase

Main Entry curtains

If you would like to check out the buildings in their entirety, please see my flickr photostream here – or watch the stream (click on the arrows to hit it full size) and don’t forget to comment.