
The Fake Townhouses Hiding Mystery Underground Portals - vinnyglennon
http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/01/29/the-fake-townhouses-hiding-mystery-underground-portals/
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PeterWhittaker
A better headline would be "Fake houses hiding tunnels and shafts whose
existence is reasonably well documented, well known to those working in
specific fields, and neither rare nor mysterious in anyway" but that would
generate fewer clicks....

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205guy
An even better headline would be "Serverless Architecture," but that's already
in use today.

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walrus01
Even better are the manholes you can see near major satellite earth stations
labeled "TELEPORT"

[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hVfE2qcyzXU/TJvJ6mq58zI/AAAAAAAAAhA/uW...](http://lh3.ggpht.com/_hVfE2qcyzXU/TJvJ6mq58zI/AAAAAAAAAhA/uWHBE1MPp4A/s800/manhole-
art-teleport.jpg)

Teleport, of course, is a common industry term for any facility that serves
two way Tx/Rx satellite services... But ordinary people find it amusing to
stand on them and take a photo.

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Patrick_Devine
Here's one in a suburb in Vancouver close to where I used to live. It's for a
railway tunnel that runs to a bridge leading to the north shore.

[https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2792941,-123.0184348,3a,75y,...](https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2792941,-123.0184348,3a,75y,4.96h,89.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skZy-
DF793NXKBCn3eD9tiQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1)

I agree with the above commenter though. These aren't that unique and I'm sure
they exist in most cities.

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lighttower
What object do you want to call attention to in the Street view image you
linked

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lstamour
[http://www.vanrail.ca/railfanning](http://www.vanrail.ca/railfanning) Look
under "Railroad Oddities" \-- in street view here, there's a house with no
windows...

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VLM
I've seen some nice telco central offices in small towns that blend right into
the residential subdivision neighborhood.

Usually they screw up the illusion by installing enough "property of xyz
telco" signs and maybe a bucket truck or two in the driveway, but the CO
itself is just residential house.

Must be some weird story behind that.

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leggomylibro
I remember seeing one in St. Louis - it was just an ordinary drab, beige-brick
corner office building, and you wouldn't pick it out besides the 'AT&T' signs
and the blinking rows of servers barely visible behind barred first-story
windows.

Interestingly, it was right across the street from a gas station that often
had a 'Nuisance Abatement Vehicle' (Bearcat) parked outside which was covered
in cameras and painted with a gaudy, "We are watching you!" slogan
complemented by an icon of an eye inside of a magnifying glass. But I think
that was just the PD trying to justify its budget expenditures.

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hammock
Downtown Chicago has a number of electrical substations that are disguised as
buildings. If you are just driving past you would probably have no idea. See
photos here: [http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/12/13/lights-on-but-
nobod...](http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/12/13/lights-on-but-nobody-home-
behind-the-fake-buildings-that-power-chicago/)

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pavel_lishin
I think my favorite part is the fake door installed by an artist. Are there
other examples of this sort of thing?

It reminds me a bit of power outlet stickers.

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beachstartup
i wish they would do this in LA. our transformers, water pumps/storage, and
subway access are out in the open and ugly as hell.

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shalmanese
LA actually has a ton of oil wells hidden behind building facades, dotted all
around the city.

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kixpanganiban
This is really fascinating. Reminds me of cell towers disguised as trees in
uptown NY. Would definitely love to see more of modern infrastructure blending
in their environment!

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Mz
Charming variation of how civilization is a thin veneer.

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guard-of-terra
[http://www.bunker42.com/eng/](http://www.bunker42.com/eng/)

There's also this one, the entrance tries to look like an ordinary house.

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DrScump
One such row of "houses" was featured in an episode of "Sherlock".

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grkvlt
In fact, they used the exact one that is mentioned in the article: 23 and 24
Leinster Gardens (although incorrectly called Terrace in the article)

