‘Exploring the Past: Photographer Documents Abandoned Century-Old Farmhouses in Rural Alberta’
If you were to meander the back roads of Alberta, you might find a bespectacled man in his mid-50s toting a camera on the roadside, aiming at what looks like a creepy haunted mansion in the middle of nowhere.
Driving his Chevy Trailblazer, Joe Chowaniec stops to investigate old dilapidated houses across the Prairies. Many are older than a century and bespeak of simpler times, but they’re slowly disappearing. For the past 10 years, Edmonton-based Chowaniec has driven 36,000 kilometres to uncover and document their mysteries before they vanish.
The mansion, in reality a big house, was built in 1915 and was once simply unique and beautiful to behold. Getting close, he noted its exterior first two floors are formed entirely of concrete blocks.
He points out how, unlike homes today, the craftsmanship of the past meant that homes were built to last.
“The house is as straight as it was when it was built,” Chowaniec told The Epoch Times. “My house is not going to be around in 100 years.”
Its first inhabitants, a family of Ukrainian immigrants named Goshko, fashioned their living quarters with great pride. But, looking inside, it’s a far cry from its former glory. With its broken floorboards, peeling paint, and caked dust, the interior is unlivable, yet otherwise surprisingly solid.
Related Stories
