Abandoned since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Charity Hospital is now a ruin in downtown New Orleans.

Urban explorer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, who has a fascination for derelict buildings across America’s Deep South, photographed the Art Deco icon, and a dozen other forgotten buildings in the city, and offers a glimpse inside its beautiful urban ruins in his book Abandoned New Orleans.

Founded in 1736 by a French shipbuilder who wanted to fund a hospital for the poor, the present structure was commissioned in 1939. It became the country’s second-largest hospital with 2,680 beds and encompassing a million square feet (93k sqm).

Discover New Orleans’ most amazing abandoned buildings