Fall of The Falls: The abandoned buildings of the Niagara Falls

By Crystal Chung @crystalkchung

MILLIONS of tourists continue to flock to Niagara Falls to soak up the breathtaking views, but these photographs show some of the forgotten and abandoned sites that surround the world’s most famous waterfall

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Icy floors: A bed, atop frozen iced floors in the abandoned St. Mary's nursing home

Things could soon change at the Falls after the New York State Parks Department released a proposal to "turn off" the American and Bridal Falls - two of the three waterfalls that make up the spectacular natural feature.

Empty beds: Rotting ruins of hospital beds are all that remain at the abandoned nursing home

The plan calls for water to be temporarily diverted towards the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border, while work is being done to replace the bridges and construct new piers.

Distressed: An abandoned and dishevelled corridor of St Mary's Nursing Home

Taken by urban explorer and photographer Johnny Joo, 25, the images document the decline of the city of Niagara Falls, New York.

Pictured are abandoned factories and hospitals - as well as the interiors of the once-thriving Hotel Niagara where Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe once stared in the movie ‘Niagara'.

These insightful pictures taken by 25-year-old Johnny Joo show us the depressing fall of the falls

Johnny, from Ohio in the heart of the US 'Rust Belt’, said: “Sadly, this once wonderful piece of America’s great collection of family friendly tourism has turned away from happier days, while much falls into a state of disrepair, becoming further and further forgotten beneath crumbling rooftops, flooded hallways and the passing of time.”

Forgotten: Johnny took the series of dark images in March of 2015 when he first ventured into the crumbling and forgotten places

The Canadian side of the world’s most famous waterfalls continue to attract millions of visitors every year, but the American city that bears the same name has a problem.

A 2000 census put the population at 55,510 but only a decade later the number of residents had fallen to only 50,193.

Opening first as a hospital, the former manor now remains no more than a massive, empty shell of memories

The most recent census was taken in 2013, where the population had fallen even further to 49,468.

Other pictures show abandoned rooms littered with rusted remains of bed frames and old equipment and covered in inches of water in most areas, many floors frozen as icicles hang from the ceilings and bed railings.

Closed fully in 2004, St. Mary’s has since sat, left to decay under the power of Earth’s elements

Johnny added: “Most of Niagara on the US side now sits a dreary mess, while preservation societies push for revitalisation of specific buildings with little to no positive reaction from the city.

"A collection of structures all sit gathering dust as people continue to pass by paying little mind to what has been left behind.

Boarded up: The outside of the abandoned nursing home

“Though these images show the abandoned and forgotten, the US side of the falls is still a very beautiful place, with much to see and a peaceful, calming atmosphere to it.