William Legoullon Photography

The Tannery:

The Tannery, as it's known by locals, is on the Gila River Indian Reservation located south of the Phoenix metropolitan area. A tannery is a facility where the tanning process is applied to animal hides for leather production and distribution. Exact dates of construction as well as building occupation are unknown. More recently, however, the location had become home to thousands of bees, as many of the interior walls were filled with hives. The building suffered major fire damage in the spring of 2009. Until the fire, the tannery also represented one of the largest and most respectable collections of graffiti in central Arizona. Future plans for demolition remain unknown.