This is a list of fake buildings which are structures that use urban and suburban camouflage to disguise equipment and city infrastructure facilities that are aesthetically unpleasing in non-industrial neighborhoods. The list does not include utility sheds such as small pumphouses.
This lists fake buildings that are used for communication facilities such as telephone exchanges and data centers.
Name | Image | Address | Town / City | Country | Coordinates | Purpose | Notes and references |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
West Hartford Data Center | ![]() | 130 South Main Street | West Hartford, Connecticut | United States | 41°45′12″N72°44′36″W / 41.75336°N 72.74336°W | Data center | Built for telephone exchange, but later converted into a data center. [1] [2] |
636 Orange Center Road | ![]() | 636 Orange Center Road | Orange, Connecticut | United States | 41°16′48″N73°01′38″W / 41.27995°N 73.02723°W | Telecommunication equipment | Frontier Communications building disguised as a single family home with blackout windows [3] |
335 Glen Road | Upload image | 335 Glen Road | Rochester, New York | United States | 43°07′39″N77°31′09″W / 43.12738°N 77.51907°W | Telecommunication equipment | [4] |
91 Pinegrove Avenue | Upload image | 91 Pinegrove Avenue | Rochester, New York | United States | 43°13′33″N77°35′49″W / 43.22593°N 77.59686°W | Telecommunication equipment | [5] |
Henson | Upload image | 13352 Blossomheath Lane | Dallas, Texas | United States | 32°55′48″N96°46′10″W / 32.93005°N 96.769412°W | Data center | Owned by AT&T. Disguised as a large suburban house. [6] [7] |
Henson 2 | Upload image | 13229 Southview Lane | Dallas, Texas | United States | 32°55′47″N96°46′10″W / 32.92961°N 96.76949°W | Data center | Previously owned by AT&T. Disguised as a large suburban house. [8] [9] |
This lists fake buildings that are used for ventilation of enclosed spaces such as tunnels.
Name | Image | Address | Town / City | Country | Coordinates | Purpose | Notes and references |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thornton Tunnel Ventilation House | Upload image | 3911 Frances Street | Burnaby, British Columbia | Canada | 49°16′46″N123°01′06″W / 49.27954°N 123.01840°W | Ventilation shaft | Part of Thornton Tunnel for Canadian National Railway [10] |
Towers substation | Upload image | 1423 rue Towers | Montreal, Quebec | Canada | 45°29′34″N73°34′53″W / 45.49273°N 73.58139°W | Ventilation shaft | Historical landmark rebuilt brick by brick as a ventilation station for the Montreal Metro [11] |
23–24 Leinster Gardens | ![]() | 23–24 Leinster Gardens | Bayswater, London | England | 51°30′45″N0°11′01″W / 51.51261°N 0.18361°W | Ventilation shaft | For the London Underground. Disguised with grayed out windows [12] |
2 Old Eldon Square | ![]() | 2, Old Eldon Square | Newcastle upon Tyne | England | 54°58′27″N1°36′52″W / 54.97430°N 1.61445°W | Ventilation shaft | For Tyne and Wear Metro, vents on the roof (seen on the right of the photo) [13] |
145 rue La Fayette | ![]() | 145, rue La Fayette | 10th arrondissement of Paris | France | 48°52′45″N2°21′22″E / 48.87920°N 2.35614°E | Ventilation shaft | For RATP Paris Métro [14] |
29 rue Quincampoix | ![]() | 29 rue Quincampoix | 4th arrondissement of Paris | France | 48°51′37″N2°21′00″E / 48.86029°N 2.35008°E | Ventilation shaft | For RATP. Trompe l'oeil paintings on windows. [15] |
Ventilation shaft of the Magenta station | Upload image | 174 rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis | 10th arrondissement of Paris | France | 48°52′48″N2°21′27″E / 48.87998°N 2.35763°E | Ventilation shaft | Part of EOLE project [16] |
3 rue de l'Aqueduc | Upload image | 3 rue de l'Aqueduc | 10th arrondissement of Paris | France | 48°52′47″N2°21′29″E / 48.87978°N 2.35800°E | Technical shaft | Part of EOLE project [17] |
Yarmouth Street Ventilation Shaft | ![]() | Yarmouth Street | Boston, Massachusetts | United States | 42°20′46″N71°04′38″W / 42.346207°N 71.077265°W | Ventilation shaft | The ventilation shaft (the rightmost portion) was wrapped by a brick facade to create an appearance of a bow-front townhouse [18] |
58 Joralemon Street | ![]() | 58 Joralemon Street | Brooklyn, New York | United States | 40°41′36″N73°59′51″W / 40.69345°N 73.99740°W | Ventilation shaft and emergency exit | For the New York City Subway. Disguised with blacked out windows. [19] |
This list fake buildings that are used to house equipment for water distribution networks, sewage management, and stormwater management.
Name | Image | Address | Town / City | Country | Coordinates | Purpose | Notes and references |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duffus Street pumping station | Upload image | 5211 Duffus Street | Halifax, Nova Scotia | Canada | 44°40′15″N63°36′07″W / 44.67087°N 63.60195°W | Sewage pumping station | Halifax Water underground station with an entrance disguised as a split-level home. [20] |
North Oakville East Wastewater Pumping Station | Upload image | 345 Dundas Street West | Oakville, Ontario | Canada | 43°28′12″N79°44′24″W / 43.470066°N 79.739913°W | Sewage pumping station | Disguised as an early 20th century fire station. [21] |
WNY1 Solids & Floatables Facility | ![]() | South of 6400 Anthony M. Defino Way | West New York, New Jersey | United States | 40°47′11″N74°00′12″W / 40.78640°N 74.00329°W | Combined sewer overflow screening facility | A facility disguised as townhouses, built in 2009 by North Hudson Sewerage Authority [22] |
H1 Screening and Wet Weather Pump Station | ![]() | 99 Observer Highway | Hoboken, New Jersey | United States | 40°44′08″N74°01′53″W / 40.73546°N 74.03131°W | Combined sewer overflow screening and flood pumping station | Disguised as a modern building that has an architectural connection to the Hoboken Terminal [23] [24] |
Belindeer Pump Station | Upload image | 5700 Belinder Avenue | Fairway, Kansas | United States | 39°01′33″N94°37′01″W / 39.02586°N 94.61692°W | Sewage pumping station | Johnson County Wastewater [25] |
Nall Avenue Holding Station | Upload image | 7490 Nall Avenue | Prairie Village, Kansas | United States | 38°59′36″N94°38′58″W / 38.99347°N 94.64951°W | Sewage pumping station | Johnson County Wastewater [25] |
Wade Avenue Pump Station | Upload image | 3215 Wade Avenue | Raleigh, North Carolina | United States | 35°48′03″N78°40′43″W / 35.80076°N 78.67854°W | Water booster pumping station | Raleigh Public Utilities Department [26] |
Lake Gaston Pipeline Pump Station | Upload image | 207 Beddingfield Way | Valentines, Virginia | United States | 36°32′48″N77°51′46″W / 36.54661°N 77.86273°W | Water source pipeline pumping station | Lake Gaston is a water source for Virginia Beach, Virginia. The station is disguised as a lake house. [27] |
Alline Avenue Pump Station | Upload image | 2921 W Alline Avenue | Tampa, Florida | United States | 27°53′54″N82°29′32″W / 27.89821°N 82.49224°W | Stormwater pumping station | Disguised as a bungalow [28] |
Locust Valley Pump Station | Upload image | 20 Meleny Rd | Locust Valley, New York | United States | 40°54′17″N73°34′58″W / 40.90480°N 73.58274°W | Sewage pumping station | Disguised as a small single family house [29] [30] |
Glannon Pump Station | Upload image | 3788 Mt Royal Boulevard | Allison Park, Pennsylvania | United States | 40°33′15″N79°58′16″W / 40.55423°N 79.97106°W | Sewage pumping station | Disguised as a single family home with a front porch [31] |
Highland Park Wastewater Treatment Facility | ![]() | 316 Highland Park Road | Sellersville, Pennsylvania | United States | 40°20′42″N75°18′06″W / 40.34509°N 75.30164°W | Wastewater treatment plant | Hilltown Township Water & Sewer Authority. Plant disguised as a red barn. [32] |
Wyndgate Subdivision Wastewater Treatment Plant | Upload image | 128 Wyndgate Valley Drive | O'Fallon, Missouri | United States | 38°44′53″N90°48′30″W / 38.74815°N 90.80847°W | Membrane bioreactors wastewater treatment plant | A subdivision of Duckett Creek Sanitary District. Plant disguised as a two-story single family house to blend in with the neighbors. [33] [34] |
Riverdale Subdivision Wastewater Treatment Facility | Upload image | 1400 Riverdale Manor Drive | O'Fallon, Missouri | United States | 38°53′01″N90°44′38″W / 38.88364°N 90.74379°W | Membrane bioreactors wastewater treatment plant | A subdivision of Duckett Creek Sanitary District. Plant disguised as a horse barn. [33] [35] |
Southport Unit 5 Vacuum Station | Upload image | 2281 SE Sidonia Street | Port St. Lucie, Florida | United States | 27°16′22″N80°18′14″W / 27.27287°N 80.30376°W | Sewage pumping station | Disguised as a bunkalow. [36] |
Kennedy Avenue Pump Station | Upload image | 6448 Kennedy Avenue | Cincinnati, Ohio | United States | 39°11′16″N84°24′49″W / 39.18771°N 84.41348°W | Water pumping station | Disguised as an apartment building in the Kennedy Heights neighborhood. [37] |
This lists fake buildings that are used for providing heating and cooling services such as district heating, district cooling and cold district heating.
Name | Image | Address | Town / City | Country | Coordinates | Purpose | Notes and references |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Metro Nashville District Energy System | Upload image | 90 Peabody Street | Nashville, Tennessee | United States | 36°09′30″N86°46′13″W / 36.15847°N 86.77039°W | District heating / District cooling | Enclosure with facade that has fake windows [26] [38] |
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This lists fake buildings that are used for electric power distribution, such as distribution substations and transformer houses.
Name | Image | Address | Town / City | Country | Coordinates | Purpose | Notes and references |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
640 Millwood Road | Upload image | 640 Millwood Road | Toronto, Ontario | Canada | 43°42′15″N79°22′33″W / 43.70424°N 79.37574°W | Substation | Toronto Hydro [14] |
Duncan Station | Upload image | 29 Nelson Street | Toronto, Ontario | Canada | 43°38′55″N79°23′19″W / 43.64870°N 79.38864°W | Substation | Toronto Hydro [14] |
Strecker Memorial Laboratory | ![]() | Southpoint Park, Roosevelt Island | New York, New York | United States | 40°45′08″N73°57′30″W / 40.75230°N 73.95822°W | Power conversion substation | Converted from an infectious disease laboratory [14] |
Mott Haven Substation | ![]() | 415 Bruckner Boulevard | Bronx, New York | United States | 40°48′28″N73°54′22″W / 40.80783°N 73.90622°W | Substation | ConEdison substation made to look like townhouses in a gated community. [39] [40] |
51 W Ontario Street | ![]() | 51 W Ontario Street | Chicago, Illinois | United States | 41°53′35″N87°37′48″W / 41.89306°N 87.63000°W | Substation | Georgian building with fake front doors, and windows that are used as vents. [14] |
4227 40th St NW | Upload image | 4227 40th St NW | Washington, DC | United States | 38°56′39″N77°04′42″W / 38.94409°N 77.07843°W | Substation | Pepco substation disguised as a two-story brick house. Side windows painted as blinds. [41] |
4225 40th St NW | Upload image | 4225 40th St NW | Washington, DC | United States | 38°56′39″N77°04′42″W / 38.94414°N 77.07820°W | Substation | Disguised as a shred behind 4227 40th St NW [41] |
4000 Van Ness St NW | Upload image | 4000 Van Ness St NW | Washington, DC | United States | 38°56′34″N77°04′44″W / 38.94264°N 77.07900°W | Substation | Pepco substation disguised as an office building with blacked out windows [42] |
1001 Harvard St NW | Upload image | 1001 Harvard St NW | Washington, DC | United States | 38°55′37″N77°01′35″W / 38.92698°N 77.02645°W | Substation | Pepco substation that imitates an old train station but with whited out windows [42] |
Pepco Darnestown Substation | Upload image | 16010 Riffle Ford Road | Gaithersburg, Maryland | United States | 39°07′04″N77°15′46″W / 39.11778°N 77.26282°W | Substation | Pepco substation that imitates a large barn with metal silo in a rural area [42] |
2530 Norton Street | Upload image | 2530 Norton Street | Rochester, New York | United States | 43°11′19″N77°33′13″W / 43.18862°N 77.55358°W | Substation | [43] |
250 Seneca Park Avenue | Upload image | 250 Seneca Park Avenue | Rochester, New York | United States | 43°13′32″N77°36′28″W / 43.22552°N 77.60778°W | Substation | [44] |
Detroit Edison Lake Orion substation | ![]() | 215 E. Church Street | Lake Orion, Michigan | United States | 42°47′15″N83°14′13″W / 42.78745°N 83.23695°W | Substation | Constructed in 1926 in Tudor Revival style to match the residential neighborhood. [45] |
Peermont Substation | Upload image | 271 61st Street | Avalon, New Jersey | United States | 39°04′37″N74°44′27″W / 39.07707°N 74.74086°W | Substation | Atlantic City Electric Company substation disguised as a shore house [46] [47] |
Henrietta is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States and a suburb of Rochester. The population of Henrietta is 47,096, according to the 2020 United States Census. Henrietta is home to the Rochester Institute of Technology and to one of the largest retail shopping districts in Monroe County.
Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Monroe County. It is the fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the larger Rochester metropolitan area in Western New York, with a population of just over 1 million residents. Throughout its history, Rochester has acquired several nicknames based on local industries; it has been known as "the Flour City" and "the Flower City" for its dual role in flour production and floriculture, and as the "Imaging Capital of the World" for its association with film and still photography.
A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment efficiency is only moderate. Septic tank systems are a type of simple onsite sewage facility. They can be used in areas that are not connected to a sewerage system, such as rural areas. The treated liquid effluent is commonly disposed in a septic drain field, which provides further treatment. Nonetheless, groundwater pollution may occur and is a problem.
A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to a sewage treatment plant or disposal.
Bassenthwaite Lake is a body of water in the Lake District in North West England, near the town of Keswick. It has an area of 5.3 km2 (2.0 sq mi), making the fourth largest of the lakes in the region. The lake has a length of approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) long and maximum width of 0.75 miles (1 km), a maximum depth of 19 m (62 ft), and a surface elevation of 68 m (223 ft) above sea level. Its primary inflow and outflow is the River Derwent, which drains into the Irish Sea at Workington. The lake is in the unitary authority of Cumberland, and the ceremonial county of Cumbria.
The Tijuana River is an intermittent river, 120 mi (195 km) long, near the Pacific coast of northern Baja California state in northwestern Mexico and Southern California in the western United States. The river is heavily polluted with raw sewage from the city of Tijuana, Mexico.
Pumping stations, also called pumphouses, are public utility buildings containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are critical in a variety of infrastructure systems, such as water supply, drainage of low-lying land, canals and removal of sewage to processing sites. A pumping station is an integral part of a pumped-storage hydroelectricity installation.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is a sewage pumping station in Mill Meads, East London, operated by Thames Water. The pumping station lifts sewage from the London sewerage system into the Northern Outfall Sewer and the Lee Tunnel, which both run to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.
United Utilities Group plc (UU) is the United Kingdom's largest listed water company. It was founded in 1995 as a result of the merger of North West Water and NORWEB. The group manages the regulated water and waste water network in North West England, which includes Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, most of Cheshire and a small area of Derbyshire, which have a combined population of more than seven million.
Toronto Water is the municipal division of the City of Toronto under Infrastructure and Development Services responsible for the water supply network, and stormwater and wastewater management in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as well as parts of Peel and York Regions.
The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority(DC Water) provides drinking water, sewage collection, and sewage treatment for Washington, D.C. The utility also provides wholesale wastewater treatment services to several adjoining municipalities in Maryland and Virginia, and maintains more than 9,000 public fire hydrants in Washington, D.C.
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately half of this area. Some areas within the Southern Water region are supplied by a number of smaller water supply companies. Southern Water supplies an area totalling 4,450 sq. km. and serves 2.26 million customers.
A vacuum sewer or pneumatic sewer system is a method of transporting sewage from its source to a sewage treatment plant. It maintains a partial vacuum, with an air pressure below atmospheric pressure inside the pipe network and vacuum station collection vessel. Valves open and reseal automatically when the system is used, so differential pressure can be maintained without expending much energy pumping. A single central vacuum station can collect the wastewater of several thousand individual homes, depending on terrain and the local situation.
The Ernest Street Sewage Pumping Station is an historic wastewater pumping station at Ernest and Ellis Streets near the wastewater treatment facility at Field's Point in Providence, Rhode Island. The surviving elements of the station include a main pumphouse and a smaller screening house, both built in 1897-98 as part of a major effort to modernize Providence's sewage treatment facilities. A third structure, a boiler house, was demolished in 1987, and a tall smokestack was taken down in the 1930s.
Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, known shortly as CMWSSB, is a statutory board of Government of Tamil Nadu which provides water supply and sewage treatment to the city of Chennai and its metropolitan region.
The Philadelphia Water Department is the public water utility for the City of Philadelphia. PWD provides integrated potable water, wastewater, and stormwater services for Philadelphia and some communities in Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery counties. PWD is a municipal agency of the City of Philadelphia, and is seated in rented space at the Jefferson Tower in the Market East area of Center City, Philadelphia.
The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) is a regional water authority in the U.S. state of Michigan. It provides drinking water treatment, drinking water distribution, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment services for the Southeast Michigan communities, including Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, among others. GLWA overlays a majority of the water and sewer assets which were formerly operated and maintained by the Detroit Water Sewer District (DWSD) prior to the bankruptcy of the City of Detroit, Michigan.
Water supply and sanitation in the Wellington region involves the provision of the "three waters" – drinking water, stormwater, and wastewater services in the Greater Wellington region.
A fake building is a government building, structure, or public utility housing that uses urban and/or suburban camouflage to disguise equipment and city infrastructure facilities that people may consider aesthetically unpleasing in non-industrial neighborhoods. These buildings are commonly found in residential towns and cities, where they are intended to blend in with the surrounding architecture and conceal manufactured equipment.
A public utility building is a building used by a public utility to maintain its office or to house equipment used in connection to the public utility. Examples include pumping stations, gas regulation stations, and other buildings that house infrastructure components and equipment of water purification systems, water distribution networks, sewage treatment systems, electric power distribution, district heating, telephone exchanges, and public service telecommunication equipment.