BLDG51. News and Events |

10 Jun old and new historically important ornament housed in the bldg. 51 museum archive

Posted at 19:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following gallery of artifacts represent only a small fraction of the bldg. 51 museum archive, which is comprised of thousands of meticulously cataloged (with images and descriptions) objects, ornament, ephemera, and other materials revolving around the first and second chicago schools of architecture. additional...

03 Jun latest digitized kodachrome slides added to growing john vinci photographic archive

Posted at 15:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

the latest digitized images from notable 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...

01 Jun images documenting ongoing restoration of 1893 world’s fair palace of fine arts building

Posted at 22:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the following images were taken earlier this month, when i was in hyde park documenting late 19th and early 20th century architecture. i haven't followed restoration of the building's dome closely, but will reconsider if and when i make a return trip. the palace of...

27 May restoration continues on howells and hood’s tribune tower

Posted at 21:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

i've spent nearly a year now documenting exterior restoration work (i.e., repair and/or replacement of bedford limestone) on howells and hood's tribune tower completed in 1925. i need to see it through, so i'm sure i will be returning time and again throughout 2019. a few...

27 May late 19th and early 20th century south side chicago residential bedford limestone architectural ornament

Posted at 18:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

most recent images selected from my ever-growing photographic survey of carved bedford limestone ornament adorning late 19th and early 20th century chicago homes. for a few years now, i've devoted several afternoons nearly each month, driving around and documenting bedford stone ornament found on residential and...

25 May the eradication of 19th century chicago worker cottages on erie street

Posted at 03:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

a collection of blog posts (links listed below) on the destruction of 19th century erie street worker cottages on chicago's rapidly changing near west side. AN INTENSIVE STUDY ON MATERIALS AND METHODS USED IN BUILDING THE CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE PRIVY VAULT WITH SCATTERED REMNANTS UNEARTHED BEHIND A PRE-FIRE CHICAGO...

21 May vanishing cityscape: wreckers take down two post-fire 1870s chicago cottages in single week

Posted at 22:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the first story facade is all that remains of the huron street cottage built around 1887 (as discussed in a previous post below). TWO-STORY 1880'S HURON STREET BRICK CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE WITH JOLIET LIMESTONE WINDOW HOODS SET TO BE DEMOLISHED IN COMING DAYS from a previous...

21 May newly added architectural artifacts, industrial furniture, and objects

Posted at 20:30h 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 May tickets now available for john vinci talk on adler and sullivan’s garrick theater held at glessner house

Posted at 18:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

Remembering the Garrick: An Evening with John Vinci Tuesday, September 24, 2019 7:00 PM 8:00 PM Glessner House1800 S. Prairie AvenueChicagoUnited States(map) Google Calendar ICS The Garrick Theater (originally known as the Schiller Building) looms large in Chicago history – both as a masterpiece of Adler & Sullivan...

20 May photographic documentation of milwaukee architectural ornament over weekend

Posted at 23:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

over the past decade, i've taken tens of thousands of images of milwaukee architecture, and it continues to grow each and every time i visit, espeically when newly discovered residential and commercial buildings are added to my "circuit." like the work i do in chicago, a book on milwaukee's architecture...

15 May two-story 19th century bell street workers cottage in bucktown issued demolition permit

Posted at 01:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

this largely intact 19th century brick cottage - located on bell street in bucktown - was issued a demolition permit earlier this week. while no machine was present, the green fence was already up and services cut. i imagine it will be in the landfill...

07 May urban remains launches newly-designed website complete with upgraded catalog containing over 35,000 artifacts and objects

Posted at 21:18h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

for over 13 years, urban remains continues to be one of the leading architectural artifact companies in the county, distinguished by its ever-expanding website, populated with over 35,000 objects and artifacts meticulously cataloged with professional images and detailed descriptions. our newest website, launched earlier this week,...

03 May two-story 1880’s huron street brick chicago workers cottage with joliet limestone window hoods set to be demolished in coming days

Posted at 19:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

yet another 1880s two-story residential brick cottage located in chicago's west town neighborhood will be reduced to rubble by the end of the week. according to an 1887 city directory, arthur heun, a draughtman, resided there, located at what was then 334 huron steet. the 19th century...

03 May out with the old, in with the new: two single-story 19th century chicago workers cottages faced with demolition

Posted at 17:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

one of two 19th century single-story brick workers cottages on race street (formerly known as emerson street) is set to be destroyed in the coming weeks. the boarded cottage with unornamented joliet limestone block headers, oculus window, and turned wood porch columns is located just...

30 Apr bldg. 51 museum acquires seldom found 19th century electro-glazed prismatic “sawtooth” tiles with brass caming

Posted at 18:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

prismatic glass appeared on the american market at the 1893 columbian exposition in chicago from gustave falconnier. falconnier was an architect and city council member in nyon, france. a graduate of the ecole des beaux-arts in paris, falconnier had many patents in the 1880s for...

29 Apr documenting vernacular architectural ornament, workers cottages, and northwestern “stock pattern” terra cotta in wicker park

Posted at 02:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

hodgepodge of images including a figural sandstone keystone, sullivan-designed fret-sawn panel detail from holy trinity (1903), safe and threatened cottages, incised lemont window hoods, northwestern terra cotta ornament, anderson pressed brick neogrec blocks, painted pine wood bracketed cornice detail, and...

28 Apr salvaged cast plaster ornament from bedroom of louis h. sullivan’s house joins bldg. 51 museum collection

Posted at 18:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

an original interior cast plaster cove molding fragment salvaged from adler and sullivan's albert sullivan house (1892) is one of the first historically important bldg. 51 museum acquisitions in 2019. the double-sided plaster ornament was located in the 2nd story bedroom where louis sullivan slept when...

23 Apr valdemar mortonsen 1876 two-story cottage with frear “artificial stone” window hoods and keystones demolished

Posted at 20:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

with the surrounding neighborhoods virtually unrecognizable, post-fire chicago two-story cottages have been on chicago’s “threatened” historic buildings list for years now. the “for sale” sign on this particular cottage quickly came and went in recent months, the green fence erected quickly thereafter. thankfully, i repeatedly...

22 Apr documenting restoration work on chicago’s wrigley, jewelers, and tribune tower buildings over weekend

Posted at 22:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

images of ongoing exterior restoration work on howells and hood's trubine tower (1925), giaver and dinkelberg's jewelers building (1927) and graham, anderson, probst & white's wrigley building (1924). chicago tribune tower: jewelers bulding: wrigley building: all images courtesy of...

22 Apr revisting adler and sullivan’s 1881 rothschild store through richard nickel streetscape images

Posted at 21:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

richard nickel images of adler and sullivan rothschild building (1881). studying the images closely while digitizing/editing them provided further appreciation for the building and sullivan's early "edelmannesque" ornament. if you look closely, you will see images of the storefront level before and after it was covered...