It’s not just the picturesque locations or the stout Brutalist architecture that makes them beautiful — though it helps — it’s the fact that nearly every one of them is rotting from disuse. Our friends at Oobject have assembled a collection of nine of these incredible pillboxes.
Looking for more sturdy structures to study? Check out these 9 Retro Bomb Shelters, these 18 Brutalist Buildings, and these insane tunnel networks.
19th Century Dutch Bunker — Split
Making a folly out of this by slicing a path right through it also serves to show just how little space there is behind the extremely thick walls of a bunker.
Alan Williams Turrets from British WWII defences
Most of the British bunkers were architecturally uninteresting apart from this notable exception.
Beached WWll Concrete Bunker — Cape May
This bunker was mostly underground till erosion exposed it like a giant concrete wreck.
Bunker Archaeology by Paul Virilio
Paul Virillo’s famous images of the accidental architecture of the 12,000 bunkers that formed the Atlantic Wall.
Decoy bungalow, Kelvedon Hatch Nuclear Bunker
This cold war bunker in the UK, intended as a regional HQ in case of nuclear attack, had a replica suburban bungalow to conceal its entrance.
Japanese bunker defence in sunken ships
Pillboxes in shipwrecks to guard the Japanese coast during WWII.
Kugelbunker
A spherical concrete bunker for one person.
Steel Armoured Cloche from the Maginot Line
The Maginot Line became emblematic of failed defence when, after vast effort, the enemy essentially stepped around it.
The abandoned bunkers of Albania
Can this possibly be true? Apparently there are 750K abandoned concrete bunkers in Albania, remnants of paranoid, xenophobic, Communist dictator, Enver Hoxha.
The Camouflaged Bunkers of Switzerland
Switzerland really does have the bunkers where the side of a mountain opens up and a Jet comes out – I’ve actually seen one. Swiss military fortresses and bunkers litter the country but are often invisible, directly camouflaged like this, or made to look like ordinary chalets.
US bunkers in Marin headlands
Built against a possible Japanese invasion during WWII, these are just outside San Francisco
Wikel Shelters
Very strange highly conspicuous air raid shelters that are often converted into everything from bus stops to night clubs.