Eastern State Penitentiary

I've been in Philly for just a few days over a month! And somehow I've managed to survive! I've adjusted well, I think. I've learned how to use public transportation, acquired a taste for Yuengling Lager, and how to stretch any meal into two! ($5 footlong = two days of eating!)  But of course homesickness creeps in every once in a while.

Fortunately, last week we visited a site that reminded me of home. The Eastern State Penitentiary!!

Perhaps I should clarify that I am from Chino...a small city outside of Los Angeles made "famous" by movies and television shows such as "The Big Lebowski", "The Simpsons", and "The O.C." - which all reference the city's most notable attraction, The California Institution for Men.  I used to pass by the prison on my way to work every day and, while growing up, I would frequently see the prisoners riding around in their big green prison bus on their way to their daily community service obligations.

So, for me, visiting an old prison was like visiting home!!!! Okay, not really, but I at least had a strange sort of connection to the place!

My favorite object from this place is one that I feel perfectly embodies the structure's classification as "stabilized ruins."  My "object" is a stool (or is that a table?) in one of the crumbling cells.

I like to call this piece "Stool or Table - Stabilized Ruin." I suppose this installation was first created shortly before the Period of Abandonment began in 1971 and was finally completed 40 years later when the years of neglect and weathering left the stool in it's current state.  I suppose Mother Nature can be credited as the creator of this piece.

There are several unique things about this object.  The stool sits in the middle near the center of the cell, just where the pile of rubble from the crumbling walls and ceiling ends.  The paint on the walls is flaking off, exposing the brick structure and the small skylight in the ceiling provides most of the light into the cell.  The stool itself mimics the crumbling paint of the walls surrounding it and is leaning to the right, looking as if it may fall at any moment - It's barely stabilized and is in ruin.

This object is on display here as part of the Eastern State Penitentiary's intention of showing the building in it's current state and not a completely refurbished and refined location.  There is no label or description of this object; it's just another one of the many cells visitors walk by.  As stated previously, the stool is surrounded by the crumbling room and debris from the walls, ceiling, and other broken objects that may have been found in the cell after the Period of Abandonment ended and the penitentiary was opened to the public, which adds to the stool's depiction of ruins.  Without these surroundings, the stool is what most would consider a broken and useless object. 

An interest in history and architecture could help with the enjoyment of this still stool and room.  Those with little interest in historic institutions and buildings will most likely not be interested in this stool or the room in which it sits. Without the appreciation of the history of the Eastern State Penitentiary, the stool is just a broken thing sitting in a giant mess of a room.

Other viewers might find this particular stool in this cell interesting if images of the cell and stool in its pristine state are displayed near the cell that is now crumbling and falling to pieces.  Visitors might also be interested in knowing what the stool was used for by the prisoners that once resided there.

Overall, the Eastern State Penitentiary is a fabulous display of what happens when "modern" architecture is left to decay and is definitely worthy of a visit!