19 Jul bldg. 51 museum’s chicago “movie palace” architectural ornament and archive collection

the bldg. 51 museum houses a large repository of ornament and artifacts representing some of chicago’s finest depression-era “movie palaces” that have succumbed to demolition or short-sighted alterations and/or renovations where ornament was removed or rescued.

in addition to the architectural ornament, the museum houses the archives of the short-lived architectural firm of mayger and graven, who for a time, worked for the notable chicago firm of rapp and rapp. the collection includes photographic images of their commissions, bill books, blueprints, and books.

finally, there are several photographic images documenting the interiors and ornament of extant chicago theaters as well as images chronicling the demolition of theaters where much of the museum’s ornament was salvaged from. documenting theater interiors led to the discovery and collection of long-forgotten “refuse” left by the tradesmen who built the theaters along with the theatergoers who attended them. the materials found in theater plenums and attic spaces led to the publication of the book,”lost and found” in early 2018. the book focuses specifically on chicago’s congress theater (1926) which spawned from the owner allowing eric j. nordstrom unabridged access to the exterior and interior for most of 2017.

note: when time permits, i will assign captions to each and every image found in the gallery below. however, nearly every piece of ornament has already been well-documented in the bldg. 51 museum book, website, and urban remains. the idea is to provide the reader with the most comprehensive and/or updated collection of chicago movie palace artifacts and ephemera as of summer, 2018.