More than anyone wants to know
Another term for this is urban archaeology. The History Channel has some fascinating programs of what's beneath the streets o some cities where the only access is through a non-descript locked doorway in a regular building through which a guide takes the crew down into bunkers, abandoned subway stations, etc. The New York Subway has abandoned stations which can be toured at various times with a group of people sort of like us, except about the subway. The stations were abandoned because they were turn around stations and had curved platforms from when the cars only had doors at either end. Once the started using cars with doors in the middle as well as at the ends, they could no longer use these old stations because there was only a drop to the tracks when the middle doors opened. Somewhere on the link is the story of these old, very opulent stations.
Here in Maryland, we have Glenn Dale Hospital which was a TB sanitarium built in 1934 before the discovery of antibiotic treatment. My brother and I discovered it when taking the back road route to Annapolis and did not know what it was. When my parents came up to visit, we drove that route and my mother immediately knew what it was because her college roommate had become a medical librarian and had worked at one in Minnesota. If you Google Glenn Dale Hospital, you can see pictures. It was closed in 1981 because of asbestos.
"Well, we have cured your TB, but now you will have asbestos-related cancer."
1934 was when asbestos was known as the "miracle fiber."
"Asbestos was called the "miracle fiber: because it could be used in so many different products. Asbestos was not expensive, easy to work with, and it was abundant. The fibers were wonderful because they didn't burn and didn't conduct heat and electricity. The fibers were durable, strong, flexible, and resistant to wear. More than 3000 different products were made using asbestos. Some of these included pipe insulation, sprayed-on fireproofing, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, brake pads, clutch facings, plasters, mastics, adhesives, gaskets, packing materials for valves, asbestos gloves, siding shingles, roofing materials, firemen's clothing, and thousands more products."
