14 Apr

Posted at 03:37h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of APRIL,...

13 Apr

Posted at 12:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

  the excavating machines showed signs of life as they began opening a formerly vacant parcel of ground located just west of ogden slip (a man-made harbor located near the mouth of the chicago river) in preparation for yet another high-rise (the 42-story "optima"). shortly after they...

13 Apr

Posted at 12:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the following images offers an in-depth visual study of chicago's extant building terra cotta, beginning in the early 1870s with the use of "gray body" terra cotta "trimmings" fabricated by the chicago terra terra company using white clay from indiana, to the richly colored polychromed...

11 Apr

Posted at 03:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

an original early 20th century granite paver was added to the urban remains collection this week, as a souvenir of the city’s early infrastructure and as an artifact tied to the wells street station that once operated at the site of the merchandise mart. the wells...

06 Apr

Posted at 20:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

for over three years now, i've been documenting the slow and painful declination of one of hermann v. von holst's finest chicago comed substations (completed in 1924) located at located at 6141 s. prairie ave. while the building thankfully dodged a demolition permit issued in...

06 Apr

Posted at 07:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

  in an irony-laden location-- between a parking lot and an adult novelties shop-- at the corner of randolph and elizabeth is an impressive bedford limestone archway that once comprised one of two entrances to the loeb apartment buildings. the largely intact carved stone assemblage is a...

05 Apr

Posted at 03:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

a suburban lawn becomes an architecture graveyard. richard nickel's collection of architectural ornament from demolished adler and sullivan commercial and residential buildings grew rapidly, beginning around 1958-1959. the neighbors were not pleased. richard nickel's copy of purchase order (dated jan, 3,...

05 Apr

Posted at 02:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

the bunte candy factory salvage was a massive undertaking on a multitude of levels. the hulking structure was a 600,00 sq. foot factory, which included an administration building with a soaring water tank tower and its owns power plant building. the factory complex was considered...

05 Apr

Posted at 02:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

milwaukee's venetian theater - an italian renaissance atmospheric movie palace designed by the architectural firm of peacock and frank - was reduced to a pile of rubble when i arrived in march of 2007.  two of us spent a cold sunday afternoon pulling out any...

02 Apr

Posted at 19:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the following images reflect my latest effort to carefully and methodically photodocument both 19th and early 20th century architectural ornament found on mostly well-maintained commercial and residential structures located in the wicker park neighborhood of chicago. the "wicker park architectural ornament archive" continues to grow...

02 Apr

Posted at 03:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired two original and largely intact louis sullivan-designed cast plaster proscenium vault "star-pod" panels salvaged from adler & sullivan's garrick theater auditorium during its demolition in early 1961. the condition of the panels vary in addition to the finish, with...

30 Mar

Posted at 21:30h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of MARCH,...

30 Mar

Posted at 09:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

towards the end of the 19th century the building industry began experimenting with aluminum as a decorative ornament, which had only become available through large scale production at beginning in the early 1890's. the first building to incorporate aluminum as a decorative building material in chicago...

29 Mar

Posted at 03:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

below is a descriptive account of the montgomery ward building, paraphrased from the inland architect and news record published in 1901, and describes the many facets of the construction process.  at the time of construction, the montgomery ward building was the tallest in chicago, topping out at nearly 394...

28 Mar

Posted at 18:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

latest images from my ever-growing photographic survey of extant late 19th and early 20th century chicago residential and commercial structures located across chicago. the work focuses on terra cotta ornament adorning the armour institute of technology (1893, patten and fisher, architects), burnham and root’s st....

23 Mar

Posted at 18:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

a well maintained three-flat red brick apartment building punctuated with ornamental floral moif anderson pressed brick, fret-sawn painted pine wood window lunettes and original ornamental cast and wrought iron newel, bracket and pipe railings (flanking stoops and front elevation), were demolished and trucked off to...

22 Mar

Posted at 17:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

  architectural photographer richard nickel’s “polish palazzo” was built as a two-story unpretentious victorian era  masonry building for wilhelm grimm in 1889. grimm operated his bakery (including brick ovens located behind the building) out of the first floor storefront with the second floor being his living...

21 Mar

Posted at 19:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

the following images were taken during a brief visit to la crosse, wisconsin (march, 2021), a small historic city founded in 1848 on the mississippi river, where several surviving 19th century workers cottages, italianate commercial buildings, and chicago prairie school structures contribute to cityscape rich...

16 Mar

Posted at 04:52h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

images of the chicago and northwestern railroad terminal (1911) before and during its demolition in 1984. the station was designed by architects frost and granger and built by the george a. fuller company.  the non-extant beaux arts station's exterior was finished using indiana limestone quarried...

15 Mar

Posted at 23:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several original and well-maintained mounted albumen prints of 19th century chicago taken by photographer james w. taylor were acquired by the bldg. 51 archive in mid-february, 2021. nearly a hundred original albumen prints (including, but not limited to, various sizes, mounting formats and year) by...

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