Is Urbex just a fad or a new approach to tourism? Whatever the case, Bordeaux is full of abandoned places to explore. A former 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
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 was 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 Institut National des Jeunes Filles Sourdes. Built in 1862, the building is listed as a historic monument. However, disused for the past 6 years, it is currently being refurbished for 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. Although it looks like a faded old hangar, it’s actually quite well preserved. The doors, completely tagged, conceal the Ligus office, the former head office of a major Gironde company, its superbly preserved staircase, its stained-glass windows that filter the light and its almost intact wooden chairs and desks. In short, we all want to work here.
4. La Cornubia
This is a very unusual place: a former Bordeaux mixture factory, specialized in the manufacture of copper sulfate and fungicides to combat vine fungus. Following a court-ordered liquidation, it was hastily closed in 2004, without even taking the time to carry out a pollution clean-up before vacating the premises. As a result, remnants of this former factory, doomed to complete destruction, remain. Cans, cabins, blue walls and posters reading “Nothing replaces copper sulfate”. Strolling through the functional buildings, you really get the impression of being spied on…
5. The Soferti factory
Another former 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. La Gare Saint-Louis
A splendid Art Deco station, commissioned in 1868 at the same time as the Médoc line (Bordeaux – Macau), and abandoned a year later. Although listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the station is now a ghostly E.Leclerc shopping mall and a rather creepy squat. The poor statue of Louis IX (worthy of a museum) even serves as an ashtray!
7. George Rapin Hospital
In the heart of the Bordeaux metropolis lies an abandoned hospital pavilion, witness to a mysterious past. On the outside, it retains an unexpected charm, but once inside, the adventure proves a little more disappointing (after all, let’s keep in mind that it’s an abandoned place). This place has no real history. The interior gives the impression that someone turned the place upside down in a moment of anger. A few branches have slipped through the windows over time, but overall, exploration leaves only a taste of unsatisfied curiosity, as if something were missing. What’s really behind these walls? Perhaps some still prefer to venture in and make up their own minds!