On crowded city streets, builders have long taken advantage of the idea of shared walls. Why build four walls when you can build two and appropriate the brick walls of the buildings on either side? That eventually leads to the phenomena of "ghost buildings." They aren't there anymore, but have left evidence of their existence on the shared walls of the adjacent buildings -sometimes even evidence of their interiors.
Ghost buildings are a product of constant urban development and regeneration. They can be found throughout by cities and towns wherever old buildings are being torn down, and their modern replacements have yet to be built. These poignant relics of old homes are in always in plain sight, but are more often that not unnoticed by passers by. They’re found in open air carparks, abandoned building sights, or half way up modern adjoining structures.
Urbex photographer Luke J. Spencer documents ghost buildings and shares them on his Instagram feed. He also tells us the stories behind some of them at Messy Messy Chic.
(Image credit: Luke J. Spencer)