Cell Block - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

And now for something different. I am known primarily as a landscape and travel photographer, but I have been known to dabble in some urbex subjects. I know that this is not technically an urbex location, being a popular museum in Philadelphia, but it sure seemed like one when we visited there. The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was once (it was built in 1829) the largest and most expensive public structure in the country. The penitentiary resembles a hub-and-spoke, consisting of an octagonal center connected by corridors to seven cell blocks. It has been home to many convicts, most notably Willie Sutton and Al Capone. This shot is from one of the cell blocks that is not open to the public, but our group was given access to it. While it is quite run down now, even when it was new, it probably was a scary place to live.