BLDG51. News and Events |

03 Nov early frank lloyd wright-designed roloson rowhouse terra cotta baluster acquired by bldg. 51 museum archive

Posted at 18:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

among the bldg. 51 museum archive's latest addition is an original frank lloyd wright-designed buff-colored terra cotta exterior robert roloson rowhouse (1894) baluster salvaged when the front terraces where dismantled/demolished in the early 1970's. most of the surviving balusters exhibit some degree of damage, espeically...

01 Nov urban remains and bldg. 51 museum owner eric j. nordstrom featured in forbes life magazine

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

By LifestyleContributor Group This story appears in the September 29, 2014 issue of Forbes Life. By Forbes Staff , Contributor Around noon at the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, the post-metal band Jesu’s Ascension is tuned to a low thrash from a boom box with a cherry red city of...

29 Oct continued photo-documentation of s.a. maxwell loft building’s conversion to boutique hotel

Posted at 19:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the most recent interior photographic images chronicling the transformation of the s.a. maxwell loft building's upper floors into livable spaces are found below. at this stage, the upper floors are virtually unrecognizable when compared to images taken by richard nickel in the 1960's and myself...

27 Oct a photographic analysis of louis sullivan-designed wainwright building terra cotta revisited

Posted at 22:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

photographic survey (in progress) of sullivan-designed red slip terra cotta spandrel panels, capitals and cornice on wainwright building by adler and sullivan and c.k. ramsey (1891). the 10-story building's terra cotta ornament was fabricated by the winkle terra cotta company (incorporated in 1889), st. louis, mo. i...

22 Oct latest salvaged chicago objects and artifacts for the month of october

Posted at 22:26h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 50,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

21 Oct documentation of howells and hood’s tribune tower restoration as of october 2019

Posted at 22:42h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest photographic images from ongoing restoration of howells and hood's tribune tower (1925) and partial demolition of jarvis hunt's printing plant (1929). the majority of the images focus on capturing tradesmen restoring the tower's bedford limestone from their swing stages hanging off the facade like...

21 Oct garrick material from bldg. 51 archive exhibited at john vinci’s garrick theater lecture held at glessner house

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

the john vinci garrick theater lecture was a great success. some of the images below were used in vinci's slideshow, with one of the primary highlights being his latest drawings of the theater he has spent months working on. more to follow. Program Description: The Garrick Theater...

13 Oct demolition looms over two von holst comed substations, a post-fire cottage, and 1880’s downtown chicago residence

Posted at 22:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

four chicago buildings from the 19th and early 20th century will be wiped off the map in the coming weeks. the four links to past posts provide additional information and images. ANOTHER EARLY 20TH CENTURY SOUTH SIDE CHICAGO VON HOLST-DESIGNED SUBSTATION FACED WITH DEMOLITION HERMAN V. VON...

12 Oct with scaffolding partially erected, burnham and root’s 1888 rookery building latest to undergo facade restoration

Posted at 20:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

there is a great deal of facade restoration work being done on downtown chicago's late 19th and early 20th century buildings this year, including, but not limited to, chicago tribune tower (howells and hood, 1925), marquette building (holabird and roche, 1895), cook county hospital (...

12 Oct latest digitized richard nickel contact sheet images documenting schiller theater building demolition

Posted at 07:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

after taking a break from digitizing and editing images pulled from richard nickel's contact sheets on demolition of adler and sullivan's 1893 schiller building or garrick theater, i'm back at it with the sole purpose to have a complete digital record of any and all...

11 Oct an afternoon documenting the “architects” cemetery of graceland cemetery

Posted at 17:52h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

while cataloging my photographic archive from 2017 i ran across a folder containing hundreds of images taken at graceland cemetery on a dreary afternoon with john vinci as my "guide." i learned a great deal while we wandered the cemetery including several engaging stories about...

09 Oct uncovering materials and methods used to construct adler and sullivan’s s.a. maxwell or jewelers’ loft building

Posted at 20:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the latest installment of photographic images, taken over the last few weeks, revolve around the continued transformation of adler and sullivan's jewelers building with an emphasis on the anatomy of the building (i.e., materials and methods), before its once again covered over with new construction...

09 Oct most recent photographic images from late 19th and early 20th century chicago architectural ornament survey

Posted at 05:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey is provided below. the architectural ornament is sourced from extant late 19th and early 20th century buildings within chicago's city limits. the majority of the buildings enjoy landmark status, while others are relatively unknown, but are dressed...

08 Oct a rare glimpse inside howells and hood’s tribune office tower during its conversion into residential living

Posted at 21:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

i took a few hundred images of howells and hood's tribune tower building (1925) when i was given access to the interior (including ground floor lobby, office tower, and printing plant) to inspect the original dull green enameled commercial grade steel muntin plate glass windows...

07 Oct photographic survey of adler and sullivan’s wainwright tomb interior, wainwright building, and union trust building during trip to st. louis

Posted at 18:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

faced with a tight schedule revolving around back-to-back lectures given by john vinci on louis sullivan's ornament, i didn't have much time to document the architecture of st. louis like i did the year before. thankfully, vinci and i stayed in adler and sullivan's union...

07 Oct seldom seen richard nickel kodachomes of garrick theater ornament on display at navy pier

Posted at 02:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

richard nickel kodachromes taken at navy pier between 1961-63. three images show john vinci examining one of two garrick theater mosaic lunettes awaiting to be reassembled. the other images feature various garrick theater ornament assemblages to be distributed to various institutions (note the hand-written signs) across...

01 Oct considerable number of newly acquired salvaged chicago architectural artifacts and medical furniture pieces added to website catalog

Posted at 21:53h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

30 Sep latest installment of digitized john vinci kodachrome slides of american architecture spanning decades

Posted at 20:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest digitized images from chicago architect john vinci's collection of kodachrome and/or ektachrome slides and other photographic images/ephemera are presented below. to see previous posts containing images from this ever-growing collection, please click on links under "further reading." captions will be added to the slides as...

30 Sep documenting chicago tribune tower and printing plant over weekend

Posted at 16:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest images documenting chicago tribune tower (howells and hood, 1925) and jarvis hunt's printing plant (1929). the plant housed the printing presses below the newsroom, located on the top floor. the tower was primarily used for office space and mccormick's lavish rooms and personal office. i was...

23 Sep returning to richard nickel’s architectural ornament collection housed at edwardsville’s library and offsite facility

Posted at 20:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

during a recent trip to st. louis accompanied by john vinci and tim samuelson, we made a visit to edwardsville, where richard nickel's architectural ornament collection is housed. nickel sold his original collection - where he amassed early adler and sullivan ornament during chicago's land...