L’Urbex is it just a fad or a new way of approaching tourism? Whatever the case, Bordeaux is full of abandoned places to explore. An old police station, a manor house, a porridge factory (yes)… Forget your prejudices and follow us on a secret and deliciously spooky urban exploration!
1. Albert Pel manor house
In a secluded suburban area, hidden behind an iron barricade at the bottom of the garden, stands a small 2-storey manor house, flanked by small crenellated towers. It dates back to the 20th century and would have been abandoned around 2008. Since then, it has been used as a squat and is in a state of disrepair. Its walls are crumbling, the floor has disappeared and the staircase has been destroyed. Do you dare to go upstairs?
2. A former police station
Located in the heart of Bordeaux on Rue Casteja, this former police headquarters is also the former National Institute for Deaf Girls. Built in 1862, the building is listed as a historic monument. However, disused for the past 6 years, it is now the subject of a rehabilitation project to build new housing. Can you find any remnants of its former function?
3. The Ligus office
You’ll have to venture to the outskirts of Bordeaux to discover this timeless place. Underneath its old, faded hangar appearance, this place is actually quite well preserved. The doors, completely tagged, hide the Ligus office, the former head office of a major Gironde company, with its superbly preserved staircase, light-filtering stained-glass windows and almost intact wooden chairs and desks. In short, we all want to work on it.
4. La Cornubia
It’s a very unusual place: a former Bordeaux mixture production plant, specialized in the manufacture of copper sulfate and fungicides to combat vine fungi. Following a court-ordered liquidation, it was hastily closed in 2004, without even taking the time to carry out an environmental clean-up before leaving the site. Remnants of this former factory, which was destined for total destruction, remain. Cans, booths, blue walls and “nothing can replace copper sulfate” posters. Strolling through the office buildings, you really get the feeling you’re being spied on…
5. The Soferti plant
Another old factory, this time specialized in sulfuric acid, alumina sulfate and a whole range of phosphate fertilizers for agriculture. Closed in June 2006 for safety reasons, it has since been partially demolished, with only the timber-framed hall remaining. A new real estate project aims to build a new district in this area, including this vestige of the industrial era! Can you find the old “Soferti, l’engrais sur-mesure” advertising posters and the slightly macho calendars that haunt this place?
6. Saint-Louis station
A splendid Art Deco station, commissioned in 1868 at the same time as the Médoc line (Bordeaux – Macau), and abandoned a year later. Although a UNESCO-listed site, the station in the clean Chartrons district has become a ghostly E.Leclerc shopping mall and a rather creepy squat. The poor statue of Louis IX (worthy of a museum), serves even as an ashtray!