Built in 1920 as a nurses' residence for the Mountain Sanatorium in Hamilton Ont., this structure is named after benefactors who donated the land in 1906. Named the Long And Bisby building, it housed nurses battling the tuberculosis epidemic for decades.
During the the 1970s it was repurposed as an alternative school for troubled students. Named the "cool school". By the 1990s it was a daycare center and remained as that until 2012. It sat abandoned until 2021 when the land for the old TB sanatorium and the Long and Bisby building were purchased by a developer. Who planned on building 600 homes on the land and using this building as an office.
After sitting for years, with security watching it. The security left and the cameras were removed. I walked up to it and to my surprise it was wide open.
The inside has been completely destroyed by multiple fires and is covered with graffiti.
Which was quite the contrast to the last time I saw the interior! Back in my very early days of exploring (8/9 years ago), I was able to explore this building and here are a few (not good quality) photos from then.
I was surprised to see that much of a difference inside because the building does have heritage protections and the development company had publicly said that they would preserve it. Maybe their plan fell through, I'm not sure. But it does look like the future of the building is up in the air.
While researching the building, I found this cool photo of nurses on the steps of the building in 1926, couldn't imagine making this post without it!
