BLDG51. News and Events |

10 Nov a chicago brick two-flat (1897) and 1880’s wood-frame worker cottage salvage completed

Posted at 15:23h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

from the very beginning of this salvage, the so-called "coach house" (more often referred to as a carriage house), located on the back lot of the property, was the structure that peeked my interest more than the two flat (1897) facing the street. i felt...

07 Nov some highlighted artifacts from this week’s daily additions culled from the urban remains website

Posted at 17:27h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the photo gallery below offers numerous hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (10 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21,000 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

05 Nov montgomery ward & co. “spirit of progress” building weathervane fragment joins the bldg. 51 museum collection

Posted at 02:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

it's no secret that this gargantuan, riveted joint, wrought bronze metal john massey rhind-designed statue or figural weathervane head fragment was brought to auction by the david v. nelson family, based on all of its recent recognition in local media. however, i was truly surprised and remarkably fortunate...

03 Nov final chapter ends with complete removal of an increasingly rare joliet limestone chicago commercial building facade

Posted at 15:14h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

throughout most of the 19th century joliet's numerous quarries were supplying chicago (and other midwestern cities) with great stone slabs used in the paving of city sidewalks, along with several churches, hotels, banks, warehouses and other types of public buildings. the stone was found just...

29 Oct a sampling of newly acquired inventory added to the urban remains website over the past few days

Posted at 16:36h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

29 Oct a chicago-based residential and commercial 19th century historic building materials database to become website

Posted at 13:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

acquiring louis sullivan and frank lloyd architectural artifacts to bolster the bldg. 51 museum collection is very important to me, and will continue on (likely with the addition of another artifact catalog in the coming years), but as i'm nearing the ten year anniversary of...

29 Oct bottom of the john kent russell wood-lined privy reached: yields hundreds of artifacts

Posted at 09:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

we arrived early in the morning to begin where we left off a few days before. it was hard not to ruminate intensely about the implications of what we would soon discover in the circular-shaped oversized wood-lined privy during that time away. however, with tools...

26 Oct Raising Chicago: An Illustrated History

Posted at 16:08h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

In 1855, the city embarked on a far-fetched scheme to hoist itself out of the mud and gunk. On the 155th anniversary of the project’s launch, we take a lively illustrated look back. BY LILLI CARRÉ This article appears in the August 2010 issue of Chicago magazine. Subscribe to Chicago magazine....

23 Oct ongoing excavation efforts at the john kent russell site yields a newly discovered artifact-laden privy

Posted at 15:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

while i patiently wait for the city to issue an excavation permit that will uncover any undiscovered buried remnants from the john kent russell house site before the new foundation is poured, which not only effectively ends my frequent visits to the site, but in...

22 Oct rapp and rapp’s oriental theater was one of two focal points during open house chicago

Posted at 00:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

judging from numerous channels of feedback, it's rather obvious that "open house chicago" this year was a smashing success. i'm very pleased that so many residential and commercial structures opened their doors to the public for observation, appreciation and an endless stream of photographic images...

21 Oct more buildings with “sullivanesque” style midland terra cotta are coming down

Posted at 14:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the small, but visually distinctive single story commercial buildings bedecked with bright white glazed terra cotta "sullivanesque" ornament in numerous configurations on their facades are disappearing more and more from the urban landscape in and around the chicago area as the number of demolition permits...

21 Oct latest update: the ever-changing c. 1876 commercial block undergoes a complete facade removal

Posted at 00:30h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the gallery of images presented in this posting offer the viewer a rather sad glimpse of the most recent round of alterations being made to this heavily altered c. 1876 solidly-constructed commercial block located just west of downtown chicago. earlier posts pertaining to this structure focused...

15 Oct the odin j. oyen collection catalog is slowly coming together

Posted at 09:51h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

due to a number of unexpected architectural salvages, preparing the john kent russell house exhibit and overseeing the publication of the bldg. 51 museum catalog, i've finally had a little bit of time to begin working again on the odin j. oyen collection in greater...

14 Oct newly created chicago athletic association building “drooping tip” cast plaster ceiling panels ready for installation

Posted at 23:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

i managed to capture the early stages of fabrication and preparation for installation of the "drooping tip" ceiling panels during my visit last week. production of the intricately detailed and well made faithful reproductions (taken awhile back from a mold of an original surviving panel)...

14 Oct diverse array of newly acquired artifacts added daily on the urban remains website

Posted at 14:27h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the urban remains virtual store's engine continuously operates as more and more artifacts, objects and oddities are added on a daily basis. with the recent spike in teardowns around the chicago area, architectural artifacts are finally becoming front and center again. however, cataloged items outside...

08 Oct why hasn’t anyone taken a stab at writing about “unearthing chicago?”

Posted at 17:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

i discovered the book "unearthing gotham" in 2002, and have read and later reexamined various chapters of this remarkable and highly informative tomb well into 2014 - especially when we began finding ash pits and privies buried beneath the john kent russell house (1855-56). i can't...

08 Oct a photographic summation of an 1876 chicago commercial building

Posted at 12:03h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

a few photographs taken while examining the interior of this post-fire chicago (1876) commercial building is "gutted" during preparation for a new use as loft apartments. ...

06 Oct sunday spent examining 19th century building materials and privy pit finds

Posted at 17:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the greater part of sunday was spent gathering wood samples from building sites and digging privy pits. by the time i gathered all of the materials and brought them back to the shop, i should have went home and rested. instead, i pushed on...

03 Oct excavating the john kent russell site has spawned a new collection consisting of 19th century bottles

Posted at 11:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

after spending weeks sporadically visiting the site where the pre-fire john kent russell frame house once stood, we have collected hundreds of fragments found in privies and ash pits. we have gathered enough material left behind to further understand living conditions of working class families that...

01 Oct recovering the remnants of a post-chicago fire walnut wood staircase with an exceptional octagonal newel post

Posted at 01:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

it appears after repeated (failed) attempts to reach out and connect with the contractor, i'm embarrassingly relegated back to the dumpster behind the commercial building constructed in 1876 (see earlier posts on this building). it's abundantly clear that money and/or avoiding crossing paths with the construction...