07 Jan We Can’t Get Enough: Vintage Industrial Cabinets
urban remains cabinetry featured in...
03 Jan three movement noel bank building vault door time clock
the extant noel state bank building, located in the wicker park neighborhood of chicago, is an american neoclassical style bank building designed and built by the architectural firm of weary & alford co., chicago, il., for joseph noel, who founded the north west savings bank...
01 Jan large selection of well-maintained adjustable height “portelevator” crank handle carts available
urban remains just completed a west side chicago factory salvage containing a wide assortment of old industrial furniture. we managed to secure over a dozen beautifully aged crank handle die carts designed and fabricated by the hamilton took works. the website contains a small selection,...
31 Dec immaculate chicago athletic building chandelier – from product catalog to building installation.
after photodocumenting the chicago athletic association building for weeks now, i focused my camera on the unusual and greatly oversized cast plaster chandelier at the foot of the grand staircase leading to the upper level or balcony of the swimming or "plunge" room. i suspected...
29 Dec the urban remains coffee table book and eric j. nordstom collection catalog making progress.
the urban remains hardbound coffee table book featuring photography from salvages i've been apart of is moving along at a very healthy pace now. i'm hoping to include a dvd tucked inside, containing supplemental material (e.g., a salvage in progress, etc). the book will likely be...
28 Dec a nice collection of artifacts salvaged from a bank building robbed by john dillinger
the first national bank & trust company building was built in 1920 with a heavy neoclassical presence both on the inside and out. the exterior contained an ornamental facade consisting of carved bedford limestone featuring detailed winged griffins. the interior was outfitted with nickel and...
26 Dec frank lloyd wright’s southside chicago “bootleg” homes in need of major restoration.
DEC 25, 2013 Locals hear details on cost to restore two homes at risk By LINDSAY WELBERS Staff Writer To restore the decaying Frank Lloyd Wright houses at the center of a controversy in South Kenwood will take between $4 and $5 million, in addition to their purchase prices. The...
18 Dec Frank Lloyd Wright desk, chair, absent from auction site
By Kristen Zambo NEW YORK — An office desk and chair designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright for SC Johnson’s Racine administration building have been removed from Sotheby’s website ahead of Wednesday’s auction. Both pieces were valued at a combined estimate of $480,000 to $720,000. The two...
11 Dec St. Louis Art Museum to buy $825,000 Frank Lloyd Wright chandelier
ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Art Museum is buying a Frank Lloyd Wright chandelier to go with its Frank Lloyd Wright chair, aiming to bolster its collection of the renowned Midwestern architect. On Monday, the board approved spending $825,000 on the fixture, its largest purchase this...
10 Dec another afternoon at the chicago athletic club association building.
more and more layers are peeled back - week after week - and i'm there to document it with my cameras. the frequency of extensive "remuddlings" that have occurred over the decades in this building are rather astonishing, yet equally depressing in some ways (at...
10 Dec Insights into Eric Nordstrom from Urban Remains, Chicago.
December 05, 2013, 11:41 AM By Ruby Hazael Illinois, USA - Eric Nordstrom sent through an email last week about a sale he was having on the Urban Remains website. He also sent a photo of some of his personal collection of architectural antiques. Eric said 'I am...
05 Dec single “sawtooth” prismatic glass luxfer patent tile
a single luxfer patent "sawtooth" tile with embossed lettering...
04 Dec a possible salvage in the near future.
the tower club was initially known as the electric club, founded in 1916 by opera enthusiast samuel insull, who established commonwealth edison and, according to legend, was the inspiration for monopoly character rich "uncle pennybags". the club, located at north dearborn street and west calhoun...
04 Dec louis h. sullivan designs transformed into metal.
sullivan's design for the auditorium building stair baluster is transformed into copper-plated cast iron by the winslow brothers foundry of chicago. this early, if not first collaboration between sullivan and winslow would lead to many more notable commissions including, but not limited to, the chicago...
02 Dec A Sturdy, Industrial Kitchen in Napa Valley (swing-out stools provided by Urban Remains)
Dan Doyle on Designing an Industrial Kitchen Dan Doyle discusses how he designed a sturdy, industrial kitchen in St. Helena, California. By Christine Pittel Christine Pittel: You're tough! I see raw steel, rough wood, open shelves...
23 Nov revisiting odin j. oyen and his remarkable building in la crosse, wisc.
nearly sixteen years ago, i was attending college during the day and working as an audio engineer at night in a recording studio a friend and i haphazardly piecemealed together in the basement of the historic odin j. oyen building. during the course of organizing the...
21 Nov scrapyard brass metal briquette as an object of art?
the centerpiece (found within the bell jar) is identified as a "briquette." this unusual looking rectangular-shaped crushed brass metal block consists primarily of old recycles radiator components. large quantities of these bricks are ultimately melted down at a foundry for producing metal castings. interesting "art"...
20 Nov spent the afternoon documenting the athletic association building facade.
the light was right. the scaffolding was in place and easily accessible. i spent a great deal of time documenting the exterior - especially the carved limestone columns and capitals (the stone setter was john arnold), and the art glass windows designed by healy ad...
18 Nov the chicago athletic association building in greater detail.
here are a few more photographs of the chicago athletic association building (henry ives cobb) taken late last week. more to come. [gallery ids="738,739,740,741,742"]...
12 Nov further documentation of the historic chicago athletic association building undergoing extensive renovations
i managed to get away from the shop this afternoon so i could continue photo-documenting the interior of the athletic club association building while it undergoes its transformation from abandoned club to boutique hotel. although they have an industrial photographer onboard, i told the developers...