Dr. Anna’s House, Bad Wildungen, Germany

A little trip across the continent to a few tourist spots was in order during the summer of 2014, and while I intended on keeping my blog entirely focused on the UK, lack of time to get out and explore in 2016 has forced me to drag a few interesting locations such as Dr. Anna’s House out of the archive to keep the website fresh.

Dr. Anna's House
The exterior of the Urology clinic “Dr. Anna’s House” – photo by Kia Wiesel

As with many of these types of places, the code-naming brigade make up all sorts of names based on the information they find inside, some of my favourites include Tapioca Farm, Red Dress Manor, Cloud Cottage, Wallpaper House. But this one was assigned Dr. Anna’s house, Dr Anna Haus, Dr. Kraft’s House – to name but a few! Why it can’t just be named “Bad Wildungen Urology Clinic” or something along those lines is beyond me? The origin of “Dr. Anna” seems to be a bit of mystery. There’s stories to be found on German news websites of a woman called Hildegard, who in 1931 moved to Bad Wildungen and married Urologist Dr. Kraft after working for him for just 3 months as “a house lady and a doctor”. In 2010 Hildegard turned the grand old age of 104 at a nursing home in Reinhardshausen, just 10 minutes away from the decaying clinic.

The medical content of the house suggests it could have been abandoned from circa 1970 but others have speculated that it was still operating as a clinic as recently as the 90’s. The clinic is situated on a fairly quiet street and over-looked by a hotel. As we walked in through the basement, which was filled with old medical records, it was obvious that “Dr. Anna’s House” has been a regular spot for explorers across the continent!

From memory the house/clinic is set over three stories, the lower levels used as the clinic & reception area while the upper floors were living quarters. It’s clear the inhabitants were a classy pair, from the fashionable clothing in the bedroom & the bed itself to the numerous taxidermy pieces, animals skins and Steinweg piano. But no explorer is visiting here for a glimpse of these items, it’s the surgery downstairs that holds the intrigue for this house.

Medical instruments, pills, medicines, lotions & potions. But probably the most photographed items in the entire building were the kidneys. Yep, real human kidneys preserved in glass vessels. However, with most of these abandoned homes, a lot of the contents were arranged to create interesting compositions so there’s no doubt whether anything in Dr Anna’s House is as it was when the occupants upped & left.

After a few hours exploring, light was getting low so we headed on to the next location…

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Comments

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  1. Sophy Hoare says:

    Is this still there or been knocked down by now?

    1. The Urban Explorer says:

      Unsure. The last report I saw from here was around 2014. Google Maps shows the building still there but who knows how old that data is.

    2. anna says:

      Hi, if the body stuff is there we could study other people.

  2. Beth says:

    What amazing photos! The formaldehyde preservation jars are incredible. Did a little research online and it looks like this place has been abandoned for roughly 15-19 years if not slightly longer but not much else in terms of history I could find! Would love to visit this some day!

  3. Jenny butler says:

    Is there an easy way of getting in? Or is there security there? I would love to adventure this place it looks very interesting.

    1. Corina says:

      Yes. It’s very easy since the front door of the house is open.

      1. Sascha says:

        I would really love to figure out the address if it is still there for a photoshoot, would come all the way from Holland for it! Is it possible to e-mail me maybe?

  4. Becky says:

    Those urine analysis strips are still used today. Don’t know if that helps to work out when it was abandoned.

  5. Pablo says:

    Thanks for the write up and pics! Never ceases to amaze me at the stuff left behind. Really pleased to see some a-hole hasn’t smashed things up like those specimen jars. It’s always a good browse on here!

  6. Connal says:

    What an amazing find, place is buried full of questions and history!! Well done

  7. Sara Harpley says:

    Really interesting… any idea of the back story or why the occupants would just up and leave all those personal things? It’s so sad. Great photos as usual. Thanks

    1. The Urban Explorer says:

      Thanks Sara, I’m not sure… there’s really not a lot I can find about the place in it’s final years.

  8. DAWN ADAMS says:

    Amazing photographs, just brilliant, eerie but brilliant thank you!

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