23 Feb latest photographic survey of architectural ornament on chicago’s historically important commercial and residential buildings
latest photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey (as of january, 2021) is provided below. the photographic images focus on architectural ornament located on historically important extant buildings located in downtown chicago and surrounding neighborhoods where the historic fabric is largely intact and well-maintained.
among the images, the northwestern terra cotta ornament adorning the dearborn station or polk street depot ( cyrus l.w. eidlitz, 1885) was revisited, given my ongoing interest in the early development of terra cotta used both as fireproofing for 1880’s commercial buildings along with ornament adorning those buildings and other skyscrapers constructed during the late 19th century.
the majority of the other buildings documented enjoy landmark status, while others are relatively unknown, but are dressed with highly stylized architectural ornament executed in a variety of mediums, including, but not limited to, glazed terra cotta, cast and wrought iron, bronze and brass, wood, cast plaster, and bedford and/or joliet limestone.
the architectural ornament photographed in surrounding neighborhoods is primarily 1880s residential, with an emphasis on early stock and custom designs, executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills.
the photographic survey, spear-headed by eric j. nordstrom, is an ongoing project that in time will materialize in a book and digital database with descriptive details to accommodate each and every image (or building). as of this writing, nearly 35,000 images have been carefully selected, edited and made available for research.
images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive.
further reading:
