Concrete Monolith

All eyes on this strange empty building found in some industrial park in small town Alberta. Cold and sterile, yet at the same time all those odd and varied angles give it a kind of weird character, with a real bunker-like quality to boot. I know, it’s right out of some movie, one with a zombie theme or maybe something post-Apocalypse in subject. The structure, the “Monolith”, stands there, in an otherwise empty lot, partially finished, looking quite out of place. Not that old, by our estimate, it’s still worthy by visual interest alone of just a little attention from Team BIGDoer.

As disused buildings like this often are, it’s a magnet for local youth. They come, probably at night, to leave their mark. Messages are scrawled on the wall…the usual assortment of so and so loves so and so, random four letter words – use your imagination, signature tags, the always popular Anarchy symbol, like any of them know what it truly means; along with other words of wisdom from these teenage prophets.

Concrete Monolith: this strange shell of a building in Ponoka Alberta. By Chris Doering and Connie Biggart. (BIGDoer/Synd/)

And of course these youthful visitors attempt to destroy too. They always do. Your author did it as a teenager – a long haired shit-disturber hell bent of ruining everything, always pillaging and smashing. Maybe you did it too. Strange that mindset a lot of young adults take on, boys I think in particular, no different then as now. Must break things!

Scroll down for photos and to comment.

The building, of course gives, up little. Hard to torch concrete you know. Or even mark it. They’ve made attempts to do both. There’s no windows to bust, no doors to boot in, little to destroy or even scratch. But still they try. Then it’s back to the “artwork”, the only successful way to make their mark on this hard cement.

Booze bottles are found scattered about – like that comes as a surprise. Jack was our friend way back when. Ditto beer, wine or what ever we could lay our grubby little hands on. Nothing’s changed with today’s youth – they doing the same things we did. We, of course, wrote the book.

We called around to see what we could find out about the building. The number on the for sale sign was out of service. I guess we should have guessed something was up given it was all faded and weather worn, pretty much forgotten like the building itself.

The town wouldn’t return any of our messages. I get it, we’re a pain. I can picture it now…”it’s those BIGDoer guys…again…lay low and maybe they’ll go away”. Neighbours contacted had no idea. No records were found in any of the usual places we look – and we have access to TONS of non-public archives in regards to land titles and stuff like that. Bizarre. No news media mentions either, nada. Looks like we’ve come up flat. There’s a first for everything. Still, we can guess that it’s not that old of a building. Suspect it’s been there for less than a decade, maybe even a lot less.

The structure is made of concrete, not formed in place, but pre-cast and later bolted together and assembled on site. Think of it as a giant Lego set of sorts. Still, this would have been quite costly when compared to other materials they could have used. Would be nice and fire resistant though. Looking at it, every panel or near every panel is unique.

Looking inside the cavernous interior it’s hard to imagine what planned use they had for the building. It was for offices or for business use, no doubt, but for what or whom? The story? Why was it not finished? Did they run out of money? That quickly comes to mind as the most likely answer.

No stairs to upper floors? I guess they were to be added later. Vandals have obviously come equipped with ladders – or maybe they have spider-like abilities – since more than a few someones have clearly made it all the way to the top.

And the timer rings…we have to hit the road.

Later that day, we’re in Edmonton. Trains, lots of trains in that town…trains on the brain…trains by the train load…enjoy some random pics from that afternoon. Ahhh, just the fix we needed. Then some BBQed meat, a cold one and pinball the Yellowhead. Not a bad end to the day.

The next day we documented the loading of a locomotive on to a trailer (the irony) at the Alberta Railway Museum just north of town, for eventual delivery to to an event in celebration of Canada’s 150th. Stayed tuned for that one! The teaser pic shows the steamer loaded up, an operation which took the better part of the day account of all troubles caused by mud at the site from recent rains. That was not in the forecast! Still, the crew handled it like pros. Update, see it here…Canadian National Railways #1392.

Update, September 2017. We heard from people. The place was to be a “Sales & Technology Centre” showcasing the very cement panels the building was made from. A factory was envisioned making these and employing a good number of people. All this was circa 2006-2008. But money ran out before they got too far. The more I read the documents and talk around, the more it stinks of an investment, ahem, “scheme”.

Recently, like only days prior to writing this update, someone was seriously injured at the building. The local boys in blue are being hush about the details, but it didn’t stop them from calling BIGDoer HQ, asking what our connection was to the place (hint, it was this article, and that’s it). They grilled us as though we ourselves were responsible for the all the trouble that happens there, including that event. For being an historic society, the s**t sure flies here at times.

More concrete buildings…
1915 Cement House.
Hosmer Mines Ltd.
Lumberton Ghost Town.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: July, 2017.
Location: Central AB.

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Monolithic Building

A strange monolithic building found in Ponoka Alberta.

Unfinished Building Ponoka AB

We suspect it’s not terribly old.

Unfinished Building Ponoka Alberta

Inside it’s just an empty shell.

Ponoka AB Concrete Building

Clearly it’s a hang out for local youth.

Ponoka AB Cement Building

Strange that work was never completed.

Ricky Bobby Quotes

Words of wisdom from the insightful mind of Ricky Bobby.

Empty Building Ponoka

Looking up…

Abandoned Building Ponoka AB

The story of the building? No one’s talking it seems.

Concrete Structure Ponoka Alberta

It’s a strange one for sure…

Edmonton CNR Shops

Later that same day, ahhh, trains.

Edmonton Alberta Train

Just passing through…

Alberta Railway Museum

And the real reason for this trip…

30 responses

  1. Will says:

    Yeah the old building is still hanging in there not really big enough for any planes to hit it however unfortunately though it seemed to have risen some other interests,nits electifying to have all the new magnetize about some things. Well I’m off take care. Remember though it’s dark and hell is hot. And for god sakes listen to more rock. A
    Ot of new bands out now redoing the 80s I think.

  2. Terry Homeniuk says:

    Came across this page after seeing a news story that took place in the building. It was supposed to have been a high-tech plant. I guess the company may have gone out of business before it was completed. There’s a listing that has the lot going for half a million bucks. http://www.ponokanews.com/news/alberta-company-builds-big-in-ponoka/ Listing: http://calgarytagteam.com/recip.html/browse/details-67828958

    • Thanks for adding to the story. Super appreciate it. In spite of our best efforts we found little about the place and now all of a sudden many are coming forward with things like this. Found out, from the RCMP detachment there, someone the other day almost died there – no details given however. Yikes!

      • Terry Homeniuk says:

        Yeah, that’s the story where I saw a photo of this building. The story said the guy was taken to Edmonton in critical but stable condition.

        It’d be interesting to see what the building plan for that structure looked like. Not sure if that’s the exterior or the interior framework. I doubt it’ll be torn down anytime soon. Be quite expensive to do so, much like the abandoned structure in downtown Lethbridge. There, the concrete structure was done but the company went out of business as well. It sat for years and I’m not sure if someone finally bought it and finished it or not.

        • Not sure the circumstances…but I wonder about funny business. I wholeheartedly agree, it’d cost a fortune to demolish. Maybe someone can find a use for it. Maybe?

  3. Kelsie says:

    Was travelling through Ponoka and got curious. Managed to actually locate the place and get some neat photos myself. Very cool!
    A few of the local youth were already there, and they said it was used by the local fire station for training and such.

    • Very cool place. I’ve heard from others regarding its use by the local fire brigade. The only signs of fire we saw however, were piled of junk clearly set on fire by visitors to the building. Thanks for commenting!

  4. Eric May says:

    It’s surprising that they would build it out of precast concrete. There doesn’t seem to be any repetitive elements that would make it beneficial. If it was a house it probably would have been built with a stucco exterior.

    • You are right, every panel, or almost every one, is quite unique. That must have cost a pretty penny. Not a house, given the land is industrial, but some kind of office building. Still, a bit of a mystery here.

  5. Grant Perry says:

    Looks like would be interesting to repurpose.

  6. Ronald Bore says:

    Very interesting building!

  7. Ellen Lyons says:

    That would make a fantastic house don’t you think!!!

  8. Neil McGivern says:

    I heard the fire department used it to practice.

    • Looks like there’s marks from bonfires inside, but nothing to suggest what you say. I would think the concrete would be marked more. Still, who knows. I wish someone in the know would come forward.

  9. Barry Ross says:

    I later read somewhere that plans changed during construction of the building and the company/owners packed up and left it there.

  10. Gaerwen Herben says:

    I wonder how many square feet and if it would make a cool house if it wasn’t in an industrial zone.

  11. Jenn says:

    Cooooool!! I love the photos inside this place!

  12. Terri Rutberg says:

    I was told a few years ago that the building was a project initiated by the airplane manufacturing company, Boeing. I’m not sure what they were planning to do with, but was told that for some reason or another, they decided to back out of doing business in Ponoka. Not sure if it had to do with zoning, permits, or if the company just ran out of money for this particular project.

    • Hmmm. You’re the first person come forward with anything. No one wants to talk about it. Is it some kind of embarrassment? Ourselves, we figured money, or a lack of it, was a possibility why it was not completed.

  13. RalphCookie Huffaker says:

    Wow what a beauty to just walk away and let it go to the vandals sad.

  14. Tammy Fleming says:

    Well thats just sad…would have been an incredible house.

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