25 Oct salvaging adler & sullivan’s chicago stock exchange building buff-colored terra cotta cornice revisited

as a semi-retired architectural “salvager,” i find this collection of images taken by r. nickel of the chicago stock building’s terra cotta cornice being dismantled and trucked offsite riveting. the work is brutal and unforgiving.

after looking closely at nickel’s contact sheets, i’m amazed at how methodical he was – salvaging and/or documenting every stage of the building’s slow and agonizing death. and, there is nothing worse than having a camera in one hand and a wrecking bar in the other. it’s truly a dangerous balancing act. wrestling around with terra cotta while high up on scaffolding is no picnic either.

kodachrome slide of richard nickel in 1972 – photographed by john vinci. both nickel and vinci where shooting the chicago stock exchange demolition using hasselblad 500c cameras.

images pulled from richard nickel contact prints on the chicago stock exchange demolition. courtesy of the richard nickel archive, ryerson and burnham archives, art institute of chicago.