Standing on the edge of the water in Toronto near the island airport is a testament to one of the old industries of the city, and to the former use of a region now dominated by condo development. The Canada Malting Company Plant, known to many Toronto explorers as the CMP, or simply as 'The Malt Plant' has been spared the fate being razed for development, as the City of Toronto sees it as a historical building. Well, the silos anyways... in early August 2010, demolition began on part of the complex.

Sitting on a peninsula jutting into picturesque Lake Muskoka just north of the town of Gravenhurst, the remains of the Muskoka Regional Centre sit, decaying away and being reclaimed by nature. It's a fitting end that the building is consumed by nature, given the original purpose of the facility.

The old Flintkote Plant in Lockport remains a mystery to most explorers who attempt to look into its history. While bits of its past are known, large segments of its existence are missing. It is known that the plant was originally a paper mill, and later moved in the asphalt shingle manufacturing business. Following that, the plant was involved with asbestos production, before finally fading back into nature.

Sitting in the middle of one of the rougher districts of Rochester, this grand industrial complex stands out alongside the railway next to it. But looks can be deceiving; while parts of the plant are abandoned, others are active under new owners. But none of them are the American Laundry Machinery Co, the original owners.

Sitting on the East Hill of Dansville, a red brick building stands, peering out among the trees onto the village below it. Only upon closer inspection does one realize that the building is sitting unused... and only upon looking deeper into it's vast history does one realize that the Castle on the Hill has sat unused for several decades.

Once a hotel that changed hands several times, now an abandonment that is being demolished to make way for a new development of condos. Because Oakville needs more condos.

Sitting right between the Queen Elizabeth Way and the Oakville GO Station, and next to a Home Depot store and parking lot is a red brick building with windows covered over by sheets of plywood. The building is fairly easy to miss if you're not looking for it, but once seen, it stands apart from the surroundings. This building is the former Oakville Lifecare Centre, originally built as a hospital for terminally ill patients.

Everyone loves nature, even people raised in the most urban environments. Something about the natural look of green, combined with the colours of different flowers attracts our attention. And what better place to see all of this, but at a set of greenhouses?

The former village of Leaside, once isolated from the city until it eventually was swallowed by East York, and later Toronto itself, was a pre-planned railway village established by CN Railway near their own rail line through the Don Valley and adjacent to the rival CP Railway. Built on the land once owned by John Lea, the residential/industrial village grew and was involved in war efforts for both World Wars.

Symes at one point was an active transfer station in Toronto's waste management scheme, but now it sits unused, save for storage of waste and recycling bins. And random junk that for some reason found its way there.

Once the active gateway of the suburbs, the original bus platforms at Eglinton subway station sit unused, sealed off from the rest of the world by walls inside the station, and a fence outside the station.

It is not uncommon for upper-class hotels to have rooms dedicated to entertainment, parties, receptions, and convention hosting. In fact, most hotels in downtown Toronto have their own ballrooms for this purpose. But how many of them have ballrooms that have been sealed away since the 1950's?

One of the original large industrial complexes, complete with one of the first taller multi-story buildings to be built in Toronto, the building originally housed the Northern Aluminum Co, which went through several name changes until finally becoming Alcan at the time the building was sold to Tower Automotive of the United States. When Tower ran into financial difficulties, however, the building was sold for redevelopment.

Not much is known about this west-end Toronto meat packers... at least, not much prior to the night of November 6, 2006. That was the night that the building housing the New York Pork & Food Exchange Ltd. burst into flame.

If you look hard enough, you can find an abandonment of any style. Normally movie theaters get closed down and the buildings reused, but not always. Famous Players Parkway in eastern Richmond Hill (right on the boundary with Markham) is proof of that.

A single flick of a switch, and 230 kilovolts of power would respond to the call. A flick of a second switch, and an entire neighbourhood would be without power. A third switch, and power would be delivered from a different substation. This all could have been a daily event at the hydro control centre.

Say the word incinerator in Toronto, and you're likely going to hear an essay on environmental issues relating to it from some city dwellers. It wasn't that long ago waste was being burned in the city, however, in several locations; the Wellington Destructor was one of these trash-burning places in the city, working alongside one that used to stand at the Don Valley and Dundas, and another now closed plant in the city Portlands.