Monkey House in Reston, VA Photo Gallery by Erin Rassier at pbase.com

Monkey House in Reston, VA

These photos were taken by my mother, Jan Bradshaw.

Those who read The Hot Zone might have noticed that the last part of the book dealt with Reston Virginia. For those who haven't, the Hot Zone is about the ebola virus. The Monkey House building in Reston was torn down sometime between 1995-98, and later became the building my mom worked in, AWI. About 3 days before the building was torn down there was a fence around it, but before that there was nothing. So my mom went in and took some pictures of the remnants of what was inside. It's not amazing, I even debated posting them. But then I decided it wasn't up to me to decide that, I have them, most people would never see the inside of the building, so I'm giving the opportunity.

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Guest		20-Nov-2014 21:40
Actually, after the Army nuked the place with chemicals, Hazleton continued buying monkeys from the same source and the virus re-established itself in the monkey house. Instead of going through the process again, they evacuated and let the virus run its course, so the stains you see could possible be monkey excrement.

Guest		18-Nov-2014 16:46
Hi

Guest		18-Nov-2014 16:03
Firkin monkeys...

Guest		03-Nov-2014 05:24
I can't believe someone would think the reddish brown stains are Blood or mold stains. They are RUST! Probably from a leaky roof and the metal trusses that support it. That's how rumors are started and causes confusion and disbelief that the place was not properly cleaned, as the one person said the Army & CDC cleaned then sprayed with bleach then gassed with formaldehyde for three days. Christ not even a Twinkie could have survived that!

Guest		07-Oct-2014 00:23
These are incredible photos. How would someone get permission to re-use one of them, such as the front of the building, in a paper to be posted on a closed web site? Many thanks, Susanne W. at avmhs_info@gmail.com

andrewt		24-Nov-2013 22:46
Frank - I think we went in there a few times with Jake, right? (Andy from Reston). Hope you are well!

Guest		08-Sep-2013 16:40
This is so cool! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I am currently reading the hot zone and this is very interesting.

Guest		12-Apr-2013 04:46
Was this one building or several? I never read the book but my friends and I would sneak into a place we called "the monkey lab." There was a fence all the way around it (70's-mid 80's) and we would crawl under the fence to gain access of to the facility. The labs were abandoned and in bad shape. We didn't know what they were, and as curious kids, we took some of the test tubes and other items to play with. We never stayed long as the fear of being caught was great. Is there a map of where this monkey house is? We were able to walk to our mystery lab from our house.

Dofi		19-Mar-2013 03:54
Thanks for posting the photos, I didnt know the buildings had been torn down. After reading The Hot Zone, I want to visit the site one day.

Joe B.		05-Nov-2012 03:24
The Army scrubbed the walls clean of blood and feces, and then "nuked" the building by spraying it with bleach and filling it with formaldehyde gas for three days. I'm sure later cleaning crews were just as effective, as the Army and CDC have treated the Reston strain of Ebola as a very dangerous virus to humans, even though in our 25-year experience it just kills monkeys. Don't spread the ghost-tale conclusion that the walls were still covered in blood before the building was torn down :)

Philip Roach		12-Aug-2012 12:24
I was a "lab tech" ...worked in this building from 1970-1972. The pic of the lockers;...one was mine. As I read the book "Hot Zone"....I knew exactly each room, each hall, each function, each aspect that the author shared...of what it was to be a part of the research team there. From memory, I know the floor plan. Your pictures,....allowed me to come "full circle". So,..thanks for posting them; they're priceless. If the walls could talk, the stories they'd tell......

Guest		11-Mar-2012 17:52
first class heart you do know that the monkeys in this house had ebola and died we didnt give it to them

first class heart		22-Oct-2011 17:01
Thank you for sharing these pictures. They illustrate how far we are from perfect and to what horrible lengths we will go capturing, caging and torturing anything that does not look like us. All in the name of science.

Guest		29-Mar-2011 21:17
the filmed images make it look all the more frightening -- a level 4 virus on the loose in suburbia! it didn't just ruin the interiors -- eventually, they had to destroy the building -- brick, concrete, cinder block -- no match for the possibility of a stray ebola spore

frank		06-Jan-2011 06:11
i think i was 14. but i have been in that building bunch of times. most kids who lived in reston at the time knew of the place but were too scared to go in. you could still smell the cleaners they used that were so strong they curled the tiles and peeled the paint. we even found the incinerater with ashes and scratches on the inside.

Guest		22-Nov-2010 19:56
Awesome pictures! Some friends and I actually managed to get inside, as well, before it was torn down and these pics sure do bring back memories. Hilariously enough, I now work at Isaac Newton Sq. and the location of what was the monkey house is right outside my office window..

Guest		22-Aug-2010 17:40
My daughter is working on an English project. She read the Hot Zone. Thanks so much for posting the photos.

Guest		02-Apr-2010 05:03
I just got done reading the Hot Zone and these pictures help me visualize what it was like in there for them. Great book.

patrick		02-Feb-2010 21:19
I own the Hot Zone, and have wondered what it was like inside that place. Thanks for the photos.

Michelle		08-Aug-2009 16:59
these pictures are amazingly helpful!! this makes my school project alot more real now that i can see the actual building.

Guest		28-Apr-2009 02:27
my dad used to service the Xerox machine in that building before the Ebola deal, pretty wild... I tried to talk to a lady in an adjacent building about it and she wouldn't, was still freaked out about it.

Dustin		15-Apr-2009 12:56
thnx for the pics i read the hot zone and was fasinated by it i so i wrote a report on it and these really helped thnx

Guest		05-Apr-2009 20:46
thanks, these pictures were great for my Hot Zone Project :]

kt		15-Dec-2008 01:30
all the pics in my project were from here :]

kt		15-Dec-2008 01:18
THIS PAGE WAS VERY HELPFUL TOWARDS MY HOT ZONE PROJECT

kt		14-Dec-2008 23:25
THIS PAGE WAS VERY HELPFUL TOWARDS MY HOT ZONE PROJECT

Julie		28-Nov-2008 04:29
I would like more information about the role Fort Detrick played in cleaning up the ebola threat. Why did the military keep this top secret?

Guest		19-Sep-2008 01:44
my 9th grade class is reading The Hot Zone... what a great book. really makes you think

Restoner		22-May-2008 16:40
Part two read below first. So before that it was preaty much the edge of the DC suburbs. but the development is still there and alot of the buildings look like that one. if u want to include this as a stop on your DC vacation drive toward the airport or from the airport and head toward local exits Tolls coming up (ezpass exepted) and take the Wiehle ave exit second reston exit and take a right go over sunrise valley and turn right into the development at the exxon mobile. it not too big but its in the middle of the original development in the first planned community in the us since the WWII movment

Restoner		22-May-2008 16:31
Damn i went to pre-school in that development. that area was much different then than it is now. but is it still close to dulles airport which handles most of the international airtravel in the country. it look beat up as shit and the blood stain on the wall is creepy. im thinking it might be a homicide though because it could of taken place when it was empty. there have been bodies found in reston from DC(30Min Drive) before. but who knows. The town didnt really get built up until after the tech boom in 97 and has kept growing.

Guest		27-Apr-2008 17:07
i can't find a floor plan for it anywhere. do you have one?

Cat Milton		10-Mar-2008 20:18
I have some pictures of the building after the fence went up if you would like them. The building was not just used for monkeys. My mother worked there in the 70's. It was a location for Hazelton Laboratories.

Green Queen		10-Feb-2008 22:06
I just finished the book! thats is soo cool! thanx! =D

Guest		20-Jan-2008 16:53
I read the book, the pictures are excellent. I only feel for those Philippine people who take the weight for the outbreak. Lets not forget, this disease was originally from Africa. Those Filipinos had no idea what was happening until it was too late. Anyway, at least its under control, for now.

Rachel		15-Oct-2007 21:25
I have been wanting to see the monkey house for some time. The site was not far from my home, and seeing these photo's really helped me to satisfy my curiousity about the place. thanks:)

Guest		05-Oct-2007 21:37
Thanks for the pictures. I just got finished reading The Hot Zone. As a nurse, I was truly fascinated. Terrifying. The photos bring it to life even more.

Dan		15-May-2007 21:37
I workout in a HealthClub in Newton Square ... I always wondered which building it was ... I was afraid I was running on a treadmill used to excersice the monkeys!

Guest		17-Mar-2007 06:36
thanks for the photos...ive read the book over and over and now i finally have a realistic view of the monkey house! =)

Guest		10-Dec-2006 07:41
Thanks great pictures! But about the last guy's comment that the virus could be in the dump, if he read the book wouldn't he have read the part that said that they gased the building and killed everything in the building, the part where he said Reston was the only place in the world nothing lived?

Guest		03-Dec-2006 13:44
Read the book and curious to know on where they dump the demolish building. The hot virus could mutant with the blood of the rats at the dump. Hope someone is checking on this.

One of the 04 class		15-Nov-2006 19:58
Great to see the photos. In reading the book you get a kind of minds eye picture of the building. I however have a question. Was your mother not afraid of going into the building? Since in the book there was the suggestion several times that the virus was started by a strain that had just been lying around for many years. I am not sure I would have gone in there.

blah		30-Oct-2006 05:23
hey thanks for the pictures, i read the book and had to do a project on it and the pictures helped alot. Thanks!

frank		05-Sep-2006 14:58
it was torn down in 1996. i used to go in it to scare the hell out of my friends. it was really creepy. there was a tower next to two doors you have a pic of it . you would climb up the ladder in the tower and hop on the roof where here was door that the pad lock was cut. go down a metal spiral staircase and boom youd be inside. there was blood sample tubes with blood still caked in them all over the place.

joe		15-Aug-2006 02:19
I haven't read the book but I just recently found out about the Ebola Reston scare. I've lived in Reston since 1989 but I don't recall ever hearing about it on the news. Did it make headlines at all?

Mikey		05-Aug-2006 03:05
I just got done reading the book and i wanted to see wat it looked like. i thank you fo the pictures

Mikey		05-Aug-2006 03:05
I just got done reading the book abd i wanted to see wat it looked like. i thank you fo the pictures

B.B.WALMSLEY CALGARYSLEY		09-Jul-2006 18:52
HELLO, THANKYOU FOR POSTING THE PICTURES, THE BOOK BROUGHT LIFE IN MY MINDS EYE, THE ABSOLUTE AND ALL ENCOMPASSING THREAT TO THE HUMAN SPECIES, THAT THESE VIRUS'S PRESENT. ON A PERSONAL NOTE, BACK IN 1987/8 MY FRIEND, A SENIOR- MEDICAL DERMATOLIGIST CONSULTANT IN BRITAIN, DISCUSSED WITH ME, AN ARTICLE IN THE BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, IN WHICH IT WAS STATED. THAT THE 'HIV' AIDS CAUSING VURUS, WAS GOING TO KILL UPTO 75% OF THE POPULATION OF AFRICA. ALMOST 20YEARS LATER, 'THE SLOW-BURN OF THE HIV VIRUS THROUGH THE HUMAN RACE HAS STARTED', AS QUOTED IN PRESTONS BOOK, CAN BE SEEN TO HAVE A SERIOUS EFFECT ON AFRICA, IN PARTICULAR, BUT ASIA IS JUST STARTING 'TO BURN', WITH THE VIRUS. WHAT CONCERNED ME, WAS THE AD-HOC WAY IN WHICH THE TRADERS IN THESE MONKEY'S BEHAVED. I CAN STATE THAT THE AWARENESS OF THESE DREADFULL VIRUS'S, THE PLACES SUCH AS RESTON AND MARBURG, IS ZERO, I MEAN NIL, THE MEDIA HAVE PLAYED NO ROLL WHATSEVER IN EDUCATING THE POPULICE, AND THEREFORE MORE IS KNOWN ABOUT FOX-HUNTING IN BRITAIN, THAT THE WAY THAT VIRAL RESEARCH IS CARRIED ON AMONG US. AND THE VERY OFTEN CARELESS WAY SAFETY GUARDS ARE ROUTINELY BY-PASSED, WITH NO CONSEQUENCES FOR THE TRANSGRESSORS. IN THE PRESENT CLIMATE OF TERROR, IS IT IMPOSSIBLE THAT ONE OF THESE 'MOSLEM-HEROIC KILLERS OF INNOCENTS,' WOULD BE INFECTED WITH THIS VIRUS, BY ONE OF HIS 'HOLYMEN', THEN STRAP A BOMB ON HIS BODY, GO INTO A POPULATION CENTER, AND SPREAD THE VIRUS ACROSS AWIDE CROSS SECTION OF PEOPLE,WHO WOULD THEN RETURN HOME UNAWARE OF THE VIRUS THEY CARRIED. THIS IS THE SORT OF THREAT, THAT THOSE WHO WATCH OVER OUR LIVES HAVE TO PLAN FOR. AND THANKFULLY MEN AND WOMEN ARE PREPARED TO RISK THEIR LIVES AND ACCEPT THE CHALLENGES.

jenna		09-Jun-2006 12:18
Yes thank you i agree with the last person who wrote a comment i've also read that book i was wondering what it looked like aswell

Tania Gudino		20-May-2006 19:24
I've reed the Hot Zone and i always wonderd how the monkey house looked like. Thank you so much for the pictures i help me understand what the workers were felling

Chad R		29-Apr-2006 03:57
I have Read the hot zone and i thank you for the pictures

Shavonda		07-Mar-2006 20:29
ahh thanks a bunch!! these are the only pics i could find anywhere of the place...i read the hot zone and wanted to see what it looked like

Guest		16-Feb-2006 22:42
Whoa! I was bummed when I found out the place had been demolished so thanks a bunch for these photos!

:))))))))))))))))))))		21-Dec-2005 18:26
o wow, i read the hot zone and i was wondering what the monkey house acctually looked like. these pictures really help with the book. thanks :)

:))))))))))))))))))))		21-Dec-2005 18:26
o wow, i read the hot zone and i was wondering what the monkey house acctually looked like. these pictures really help with the book. thanks :)

DCMunro		19-Nov-2005 07:10
Thanks a million! These are the only pictures I could find of the Reston Monkey House

kdk		07-Apr-2005 17:21
Great Pictures! You are preserving a piece of history on this site.

Nice Guy		21-Jan-2005 03:21
Same as what lorenzo said.. bonus for project.....thanx

Lorenzo		08-Jul-2004 03:43
NICE, I've lookedd all around google but never found the reston monkey house photos! Nice!

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