I have the same reaction to the old Building 9 on the Kodak site in Toronto, Canada:
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The entire quite massive site - which featured both development services and manufacturing of many photographic materials during its day - was closed down in 2006, and that building was simply abandoned, while most of the rest of the site was demolished.
The building itself was saved, moved temporarily and then renovated and incorporated into the Metro station for the expanded Rapid Transit line.
Here is a current picture:
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Before abandonment, Building 9 was the Canadian Kodak entertainment and recreation facility for employees featuring a gym/auditorium, cafeteria, weight room and change rooms. There were darkrooms for photo enthusiasts. The basement had several conference rooms which were used for employee training.
Those darkrooms were the only darkroom my Dad had ever developed anything in before he helped me learn, starting on my 11th birthday.
Around the world, there are many stories that are very similar to the Forte story.