About Eric Nordstrom

Eric J. Nordstrom focuses on the documentation, extraction, and salvage of historic building materials from commercial and residential construction of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

He owns and operates the Chicago-based Urban Remains store, celebrating its 15-year anniversary in 2021, housing an extensive and eclectic stock of building materials ranging from ornament to monument.

As an outgrowth of his work and passion, Nordstrom created the BLDG. 51 museum and gallery–an archive hosting historically-significant architectural artifacts and ephemera. In 2019, he established the Chicago Workers Cottage Association, a non-profit 501c3 organization which seeks to research, document, and preserve this unique architectural contribution to Chicago’s cityscape.

His work has been featured in This Old House, The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Forbes, Playboy, and Subaru’s Drive magazine, among others. He has appeared on WGN’s Chasing Chicago and HGTV’s Windy City Rehab. He has published two books on his museum collection as well as Lost and Found, a documentation of Chicago’s Congress Theater.

He holds degrees in neuropharmacology from the University of Minnesota, is an avid photographer, and lives in Chicago with his partner Jaime, son Jonah, and daughter, Amelia.