19 Sep clumsy classicism and soot city: bld 51 museum joins forces with casalino archive to showcase newly discovered kodachromes of cobb’s post office and surrounding buildings as they appeared in 1965

the bld. 51 museum is collaborating with the chicago-based casalino archive to digitize and showcase newly discovered and seldom seen color slides (e.g., kodachromes) of henry ives cobb’s federal building and post office (1898-1905) and surrounding historically important commerical buildings as they appeared in the winter and spring of 1965 – the year the former was demolished to make way for  make way for mies van der rohe’s kluczynski federal building.

the well-preserved kodachromes offer a detailed glimpse of the post office both inside and out, shortly before it was vacated for demolition. the photographer documented surrounding buildings, including, but not limited to, burnham and root’s monadnock (1891), holabird and roche’s old colony building (1893), and charles b. atwood’s fisher building – all blackened by the city’s sooty air. 

images courtesy of the casalino archive. digitization by the bld. 51 museum. all rights reserved. 2025.