09 Mar well-maintained 19th century brick two flat, jefferson hospital and richardsonian romanesque bedford limestone apartment building face destruction
within a week’s time, i discovered that an amazingly intact 1880s brick two flat residence, jefferson hospital (1922, f.o. demoney) and a 19th century richardsonian romanesque apartment building with a rusticated and finely carved bedford limestone facade are either undergoing demolition or will be within the next few weeks. this comes on the heels of documenting a pre-fire chicago cottage with artificial or “frear patent” stone ornament wrecked nearly a week ago in chicago’s pilsen neighborhood, which is populated with the highest concentration of uniquely designed and largely unaltered brick worker cottages in the city.
the following selection of images provides a visual record of the buildings as they appeared shortly before wrecking crews arrive and/or are erased from the streetscape. when time permits, i will revisit this blog post to further research the history of the buildings.
1880s two-flat boarding house with incised joliet limestone ornament and pressed metal cornice:
1922 jefferson hospital with bedford limestone ornament designed by architect f.o. demoney:
1892 richardsonian romanesque apartment building with rusticated bedford limestone facade:
images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive.
further reading:
