I presume the use of the term as part of Carlyle's "dismal science" is more recent than it's other meanings:
recession: n. 1. the act of receding or withdrawing. 2. a receding part of a wall or building, etc. 3. a withdrawing procession, as at the end of a religious service. 4. Econ. a period of an economic contraction, sometime limited in scope or duration.
The receding wall suggests definition two and the graffiti, social baggage of the fourth - two for one!
Thanks for the nice comments. I did like the two-fer on this image. It was hard to compose the decomposition. There are parts of the building that are literally gutted but in the end i thought the windows were what made it stand out.
