A Vanishing New York: Ruins Across the Empire State
Essay by Thomas Mellins
Schiffer Publishing, 2022
208 pages, 11”x9”
New York is filled with forsaken buildings, each ravaged by the exploits of modernization, each having fascinating histories. This photographic essay explores over 40 of the most evocative abandoned sites in the Empire State and puts their individual stories in the larger context of New York's historical legacy. Photographer and author John Lazzaro traveled the state, capturing what's left of such places before they are inevitably swept away by time. Divided by region, these sites, ranging from the Catskills' once-vibrant vacation destinations to Long Island's melancholy psychiatric centers, reveal deeper social, cultural, and political changes that lead to their decay. These abandoned hospitals, schools, churches, railways, and estates offer us a view into a past rapidly dissolving before it disappears completely. With a Foreword by architectural historian and author Thomas Mellins, this is a valuable meditation on the nature of decay and progress, remembrance and forgetfulness, past and present.
The Walls Still Talk: A Photographic Journey Through Kings Park Psychiatric Center
Self-published, 2018
42 pages, 8”x10”
The Walls Still Talk is a photographic coffee table book which takes readers on a visually haunting journey through the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Kings Park, NY.
This limited edition, hard-cover photo book offers thought-provoking images of a state hospital that was once the pride of the local community but which has now fallen into a beautiful state of abandon as a result of deinstitutionalization. This is John’s first photo book which is designed by the artist himself.