Bell Labs Holmdel Complex (2019)(abandonedamerica.us)
abandonedamerica.us
Bell Labs Holmdel Complex (2019)
https://www.abandonedamerica.us/bell-labs
59 comments
Whether or not AT&T was far-seeing, they had a mandate to design and deliver universal telephone service, and cost-plus deal to pay for it, so it made sense to buy nice expensive things. Even when the mission was fulfilled and the economy started to restructure the company, it ran along for at least another 10 or 15 years before the real disruption started (the 1996 breakup that turned Bell Labs into Lucent). And even then, the labs contributed fundamental research in machine learning, quantum computing and databases, to name a few areas. As you say, that model of large-scale corporate R&D doesn't exist any more - there's no funding model to support it.
How do you figure? The model now has been tech companies for the last 15 years.
I can't speak for the previous commenter but it does seem there is a different character to the research work happening at FAANG-scale companies (which is still generally in service of their corporate strategy) vs the work that happened at Bell Labs back in the day (which was more abstract and less directly-commercializable). Bell Labs was more of a large team of brilliant researchers with ample resources to support their work, and it just had to be useful to somebody rather than be part of a product/service that could be sold directly.
You're right. The invention of the transistor was a multi-decade effort by scientists working outside of regular hours, essentially inventing the field of solid state physics. It's hard to imagine such a technology coming out of a publicly traded company like Google or Apple, whose year-to-year or even quarter-to-quarter behavior is as sensitive to changes in interest rates and short term market conditions as a balloon in the wind.
> which was more abstract and less directly-commercializable
Related acecdote: Charles Townes described that after the invention of the maser, he had to make a case for Bell Labs to patent it, against some resistance. As he described it, the eventual winning phrase was: "Well, it could be used for telecomunication".
Related acecdote: Charles Townes described that after the invention of the maser, he had to make a case for Bell Labs to patent it, against some resistance. As he described it, the eventual winning phrase was: "Well, it could be used for telecomunication".
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Brian Kernighan's book, "Unix: A History and a Memoir" paints a compelling picture of just how open-ended research at Bell Labs can be.
FAANG do a lot of research, but the budgeting for those efforts is much more tightly controlled and connected to corporate strategy.
FAANG do a lot of research, but the budgeting for those efforts is much more tightly controlled and connected to corporate strategy.
I share the sentiment but there are companies doing this - it’s just in different domains than telephony. Deepmind, OpenAI, etc, fusion research, SpaceX. There are lots of long bets on hard tech. If anything it’s a proliferation, although Bell labs is no longer a thing.
My hope is that we can establish a similar model for biology, since many challenges in that domain are pre-commercial but not at the appropriate scale for academic labs.
My hope is that we can establish a similar model for biology, since many challenges in that domain are pre-commercial but not at the appropriate scale for academic labs.
None of these efforts are as wide-ranging as AT&T's, though. Budget comparisons are hard for a number of reasons (AT&T had R&D happening in multiple places, under multiple funding streams, both directly and indirectly funded), but the usual thinking is that AT&T spent a larger % of revenue on research than most, but not all, organizations today, with Google being a notable example of a company that beats it on % revenue to R&D (is this still true?). My suspicion would be that that comparison wouldn't hold if you factored in the directly funded DoD work but it's hard to say without some pretty complex digging through accounting records.
The more substantial point is breadth, though. AT&T research at its peak was more comparable to a university than an industrial R&D institution, with both basic and applied research occurring in a huge variety of fields---likely all fields of physical science at various points. All of the organizations you mention are essentially single-purpose. Some of the major tech companies (Google, Microsoft) are known for wide-ranging R&D, but they seem to have struggled to produce the kind of basic advances that AT&T did, and also seem to be backing off of that work.
Basic research is the big problem... AT&T had very little problem with money going to basic research without known applications, likely due to the substantial influence that academia and "scientific management" had on AT&T, as well as its reputation for excellent research management practices that made AT&T a major part of basic physics research on the behalf of the DoD for decades (Sandia National Laboratories, for example, operated by AT&T until relatively recently). In my opinion, accounts of Bell Labs enormous success, having made major contributions to nearly every field of engineering, often focus too much on the excellence of its staff (which was a factor, although Bell Labs management practices were not exactly modern), and downplay the role of AT&T's willingness to fund basic research and ability to find outside funding for basic research as well. Few modern organizations seem to be willing to entertain major efforts in a nascent field of astronomy, for example, on the assumption that the technical work will lead to useful engineering knowledge.
There's a lot out there about the history of Bell Labs, but its own multi-volume "A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System," from the late '70s, does a good job of covering the incredible breadth and scale of work performed at Bell Labs. One thing to consider is that costs were quite a bit lower back then, and so Bell Labs small-looking budget of $3-5 billion of today's dollars per year translated to a workforce in the tens of thousands working, during WWII, 70-hour weeks. A two-day weekend did finally reach most of the Bell Labs technical staff early in the Cold War.
Besides, if you read into the history of Bell Labs, you will recognize vestiges of its bureaucratic structure in most government and military R&D today. Its influence in government and military physical research is enormous.
The more substantial point is breadth, though. AT&T research at its peak was more comparable to a university than an industrial R&D institution, with both basic and applied research occurring in a huge variety of fields---likely all fields of physical science at various points. All of the organizations you mention are essentially single-purpose. Some of the major tech companies (Google, Microsoft) are known for wide-ranging R&D, but they seem to have struggled to produce the kind of basic advances that AT&T did, and also seem to be backing off of that work.
Basic research is the big problem... AT&T had very little problem with money going to basic research without known applications, likely due to the substantial influence that academia and "scientific management" had on AT&T, as well as its reputation for excellent research management practices that made AT&T a major part of basic physics research on the behalf of the DoD for decades (Sandia National Laboratories, for example, operated by AT&T until relatively recently). In my opinion, accounts of Bell Labs enormous success, having made major contributions to nearly every field of engineering, often focus too much on the excellence of its staff (which was a factor, although Bell Labs management practices were not exactly modern), and downplay the role of AT&T's willingness to fund basic research and ability to find outside funding for basic research as well. Few modern organizations seem to be willing to entertain major efforts in a nascent field of astronomy, for example, on the assumption that the technical work will lead to useful engineering knowledge.
There's a lot out there about the history of Bell Labs, but its own multi-volume "A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System," from the late '70s, does a good job of covering the incredible breadth and scale of work performed at Bell Labs. One thing to consider is that costs were quite a bit lower back then, and so Bell Labs small-looking budget of $3-5 billion of today's dollars per year translated to a workforce in the tens of thousands working, during WWII, 70-hour weeks. A two-day weekend did finally reach most of the Bell Labs technical staff early in the Cold War.
Besides, if you read into the history of Bell Labs, you will recognize vestiges of its bureaucratic structure in most government and military R&D today. Its influence in government and military physical research is enormous.
How I miss the age before MBAs and stock buybacks fever. Too bad I was not even born at that time.
Fusion isn't a good example. It's not getting anywhere near the funding it requires. Maybe I've become cynical, but it seems like all the big new technology products which have come out in the last decade or two have just been software products mostly designed to predict human behavior more accurately to advertise to us. AT&T invented solar panels, the transistor, radio astronomy, as well as computing innovations that we're still using today. It's hard to imagine we'll hold Google, Apple, or Facebook in the same reverence 100 years from now because they created some interesting consumer products which distract us for a couple years before going in the trash to be replaced by the next, slightly more distracting version
sir, i must respectfully disagree - bell labs is still a thing
disclaimer - i work there as a senior researcher and we still do world class research, so pls don't portrait us as a thing of the past just yet, thx :)
disclaimer - i work there as a senior researcher and we still do world class research, so pls don't portrait us as a thing of the past just yet, thx :)
The only way this worked when was AT&T had a virtual monopoly on all telecommunications (design, installation, services, etc) in the US, and had their rates set using a rate of return derived pricing mechanism.
We can probably get such things back, but they are not Free exactly.
RCA had similar labs, but I think changes to the tax code makes them less worthwhile to do today as well.
We can probably get such things back, but they are not Free exactly.
RCA had similar labs, but I think changes to the tax code makes them less worthwhile to do today as well.
> Really part of another era, where AT&T sunk billions into the labs just for pure research. If only corporations could be a far seeing today.
I think it's only fair to mention that AT&T's motives here weren't entirely selfless: the value of much of their research was really only realized by the public as a result of a 1956 consent decree. Before that, it was largely locked behind patents; the consent decree forced them to license their research without royalties (and forbade them from competing in non-telecommuncations domains).
I think it's only fair to mention that AT&T's motives here weren't entirely selfless: the value of much of their research was really only realized by the public as a result of a 1956 consent decree. Before that, it was largely locked behind patents; the consent decree forced them to license their research without royalties (and forbade them from competing in non-telecommuncations domains).
Lucky it's still alive and well. I've been there... it's not full but it's still open!
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
I understand they were a cash cow which put the company in another league where cash flow is anormally high.
I worked here - my first job in the US, via a contracting agency, for a few weeks until I totalled my then-girlfriend's car, broke my arm, and could no longer commute from Philadelphia.
Worst programming job I ever had. My assigned task: change the constant that limited how many forwarding steps a phone could follow in one of their private telephone routing systems, from 32 to 64. That meant: change the macro/definition in a .h file, update the documentation string.
Planned time for this change: 1 week.
There's a reason those telephone switches written in C actually worked so reliably, but oh god, not the life for me.
Did I mention the office^H^H^H^H^H^Hcloset I had to work in.
Very happy to never come close to this vision of programming ever again.
Worst programming job I ever had. My assigned task: change the constant that limited how many forwarding steps a phone could follow in one of their private telephone routing systems, from 32 to 64. That meant: change the macro/definition in a .h file, update the documentation string.
Planned time for this change: 1 week.
There's a reason those telephone switches written in C actually worked so reliably, but oh god, not the life for me.
Did I mention the office^H^H^H^H^H^Hcloset I had to work in.
Very happy to never come close to this vision of programming ever again.
I would happily take a closet office over an open floorplan.
But commuting Philadelphia to Holmdel sounds absolutely awful.
But commuting Philadelphia to Holmdel sounds absolutely awful.
I grew up in Monmouth County and I think back fondly on all the old Bell Labs folks who stayed in the area. They were my soccer coaches/math teachers/friendly old folks in the neighborhood, and it wasn't until I was in high school did I fully understand the brilliant minds I was lucky enough to learn from.
The building is featured prominently in the show Severance as the hq of Lumon.
Yeah, when I watched the first episode, I was like "oh, shit thats Holmdel!"
God, it’s painful to see this. So much happened there. I read about it decades ago and dreamed of working there.
I ended up working at Microsoft’s Building 2, which was just as good. It was a giant plus sign, lined with individual offices and nestled in a veritable forest. I worked with some of the greatest minds in computer science, and they were all kind, helpful, brilliant people.
I knew at the time it was special, knew it wouldn’t last forever, and cherished every day there. It’s gone too.
I ended up working at Microsoft’s Building 2, which was just as good. It was a giant plus sign, lined with individual offices and nestled in a veritable forest. I worked with some of the greatest minds in computer science, and they were all kind, helpful, brilliant people.
I knew at the time it was special, knew it wouldn’t last forever, and cherished every day there. It’s gone too.
What was its fate?
Microsoft tore down those buildings, the original X buildings campus, a few years ago:
https://www.geekwire.com/2019/microsoft-says-goodbye-past-de...
https://www.geekwire.com/2019/microsoft-says-goodbye-past-de...
Replaced with anonymous open plan buildings. Quite difficult for me to think about despite having left 23 years ago. I’m actually not a very nostalgic person most of the time.
Bell labs is long gone but the site has since been redeveloped and now is a mixed use Office/Hotel space. I think redevelopment started in 2013.
This is now Bell Works:
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
Note that the complex is now Bell Works and quite busy now. There are a number of tech companies there and importantly Nokia Bell Labs relocated from Crawford Hill to Bell Works ~2-3 years ago (this is also the reason why there is talk about dismantling the Horn Antenna, which is on the Crawford Hill site, which IIRC was sold recently).
Yeah I worked in here for Lucent before the OG dotcom crash. It's a pretty neat building. When you went in back in those days, there was a big communication satellite suspended over the entry lounge, with various things like telephones, transistors, etc., which were productionized here. IIUC there are antennas on the property used to discover the Big Bang too. There's also a big water tower in the shape of a transistor over a reflecting pool. It was a rough time watching this building emptied out into dumpsters during Lucent's auguring-in.
It's interesting how the area around NYC was the silicon valley of the mid 20th century. Most of the country's tech innovation was coming out of Bell and IBM. Has that area's loss of dominance solely been due to all the tech industry moving to California?
Tech was present in California in the mid-late 20th century; in fact, Silicon Valley was founded by an ex-Bell scientist named Bill Shockley, who shared a Nobel prize for the transistor. His company didn't do well, but ex-employees founded Fairchild Semiconductor, whose ex-employees founded Intel. This brought along many other tech companies, such as Atari, Apple, and the like.
Though Bell labs continued to innovate into the 70s and 80s, the AT&T monopoly was split up, which left Bell Labs with significantly less cash to invest into pure research with. IBM also lost the PC wars, ironically even though the PC became the international default for a microcomputer by the 80s and 90s.
So, yes, while tech moved west, the existing eastern behemoths had their own troubles which led to their downfall, independent of California. At the same time, Stanford became a major hiring location for these tech companies, and its engineering departments gained nationwide recognition. Companies moved to California to get access to Stanford talent.
Source - The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner
Though Bell labs continued to innovate into the 70s and 80s, the AT&T monopoly was split up, which left Bell Labs with significantly less cash to invest into pure research with. IBM also lost the PC wars, ironically even though the PC became the international default for a microcomputer by the 80s and 90s.
So, yes, while tech moved west, the existing eastern behemoths had their own troubles which led to their downfall, independent of California. At the same time, Stanford became a major hiring location for these tech companies, and its engineering departments gained nationwide recognition. Companies moved to California to get access to Stanford talent.
Source - The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner
I always found Fairchild to come up surprisingly often in random bits of knowledge. He had his hands in and was a pioneer in aircrafts, photography, spy satellites, semiconductors and had over 70 companies (known to us) throughout his life. Just makes my conspiracy side tingle.
In high school I worked for Lucent in this building after school and over summers. It’s where I learned UNIX, vim, Perl, and how web servers worked. It bums me out seeing that it now is basically a big mall. Hopefully there are some cool startups that come out of it.
And they're tearing down the antenna: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/save-big-bang-antenna/
The Horn antenna is at Crowford hill not Holmdel (confusing because they are both in the Holmdel township).
Fascinating to see a couple recent photos and find out what happened to this place.
The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex is something that I find myself unexpectedly stumbling over on the Internet every few years or so. First time some circa 10 years ago, when they uploaded a 1973 era training video for the computing services to `AT&T tech channel`:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMYiktO0D64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9aVOIuKVUc
The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex is something that I find myself unexpectedly stumbling over on the Internet every few years or so. First time some circa 10 years ago, when they uploaded a 1973 era training video for the computing services to `AT&T tech channel`:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMYiktO0D64
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9aVOIuKVUc
Raquel Welch taped up on the System 370:
https://youtu.be/HMYiktO0D64?t=339
I think it's this photo:
https://imgur.com/a/a0wK4sR
Her photo is the only personal item I see anywhere in the two videos.
https://youtu.be/HMYiktO0D64?t=339
I think it's this photo:
https://imgur.com/a/a0wK4sR
Her photo is the only personal item I see anywhere in the two videos.
its essentially been turned into a funny looking mall since 2019
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
I was an intern here the summer after my sophomore year in college. I just assumed all office buildings were this epic and only later realized how fortunate I was.
I worked there for two years. It's quite beautiful now, a bunch of companies, and has a Montessori, an escape room, golf simulator, and a food court.
In addition to the amazing Saarinen building, the road layout around it is very novel/strange.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3675458,-74.1708944,1368m/da...
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3675458,-74.1708944,1368m/da...
Bell System buildings are the weirdest. There's art deco stuff like the St Paul MN central office, or the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph building in downtown Denver, which is worth venturing into the lobby to see murals like "The Wings of Thought" and "The Crucible of Science" to industrial hulks like the Minneapolis main central office. There's a data center at 52nd and Zuni in Denver that's really 1960s.
Then there's buildings so bland you can walk or drive by and you won't remember them, like the building at the corner of 15th and Curtis in Denver. Architectural blind spot.
Then there's buildings so bland you can walk or drive by and you won't remember them, like the building at the corner of 15th and Curtis in Denver. Architectural blind spot.
I host a meetup there sometimes, it feel so Blade Runner run out of electric. https://www.meetup.com/futureofdata-princeton/
Lots of good stuff like this on the author's feed here: https://mastodon.social/@AbandonedAmerica
It's the building used in the TV show Severance.
I had a job offer to join Nvidia's office there years ago. Worst financial decision of my life not taking it.
I had a job offer to join Nvidia's office there years ago. Worst financial decision of my life not taking it.
This building reminds me of one of the ones from the University of Freiburg, Germany: https://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/07/58/57/cf/123230159-...
Google: KG 2 Uni Freiburg
Google: KG 2 Uni Freiburg
Was this office just built in the middle of nowhere? Where do people go for lunch? I’m not an expert on commercial buildings but it always seemed like immediate proximity to food, public transport, and other businesses is one of the most important factors of an office.
I went there to, or all things port Unix to an AT&T board (like coals to Newcastle) in the mid 80s. There was food available.
Went there in the middle of winter, snowing, rental car company gave me an upgrade, some form of caddy land whale that was definitely now snow worthy - was a scary trip
Went there in the middle of winter, snowing, rental car company gave me an upgrade, some form of caddy land whale that was definitely now snow worthy - was a scary trip
I don’t recall if they had a cafeteria, I would not be surprised if they did.
Many employees lived in Holmdel or close by. The schools definitely reflected it. Holmdel itself didn’t have any real commercial areas, nearby Hazlet did.
NJ transit trains were near-ish, but not close enough to walk.
Many employees lived in Holmdel or close by. The schools definitely reflected it. Holmdel itself didn’t have any real commercial areas, nearby Hazlet did.
NJ transit trains were near-ish, but not close enough to walk.
probably had a caf there + bring a box from home (always hated that). IBM was really into that too, just build in the middle of nowhere. They still have two locations around where i live - almaden and bailey avenue, pretty intentionally isolated, not sure why - but it was a thing.
I think it’s fascinating how many people are enamored by how the building looks. To me, it’s horrifically ugly, just a giant glass rectangle on squat legs.
De gustibus non disputandum est, eh?
De gustibus non disputandum est, eh?
Honestly, most people are really enamored by the interior, not the rather boring exterior. Especially when you compare it with warehouses crammed with desks that are modern open plan offices (sometimes spruced with color for trendier firms)
(2019), now Bell Works
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
https://bell.works/new-jersey/explore/
It’s not abandoned though. They turned it into office and retail space, and you can go there and just walk around and hang out for the day.
OMG Flashback memories of my internship there.
It really should be turned into a tech museum or something.
It really should be turned into a tech museum or something.
Nice to look at but I can hear voices, conversions and footsteps echoing everywhere...
I got my COVID shot there.
Really part of another era, where AT&T sunk billions into the labs just for pure research. If only corporations could be a far seeing today.