BLDG51. News and Events |

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...

17 Apr latest architectural ornament, industrial and medical furniture, and museum-quality artifacts added to urban remains website

Posted at 05:46h 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)...

16 Apr a well-maintained post-fire chicago cottage on mohawk will soon be reduced to rubble and carried off to landfill

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

an 1870's single-story brick workers cottage on mohawk was issued a demolition permit a few days ago. i would have documented it sooner, but was away in utah for several days. despite being painted, the cottage retains much of its character, including bracketed pine wood cornice...

10 Apr south side chicago’s washington park bank building awaiting death by demolition

Posted at 12:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

awaiting death by demolition. newspaper clippings courtesy of paul woodfin. i've been tracking coverage of the impending demolition of the south side chicago washington park bank building, designed in 1925 by architect albert schwartz. after leaving an event on the south side of chicago yesterday afternoon,...

09 Apr photographic survey of 19th and early 20th century architecture in salt lake city

Posted at 13:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

april 7th, 2019: a small selection of images from my photographic documentation of late 19th and early 20th century buildings (emphasis on architectural ornament as always) in and around salt lake city taken over the weekend. when time permits, will need to retrace my...

08 Apr an afternoon documenting the pontiac – holarbird & roche’s earliest extant skyscraper

Posted at 12:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the pontiac building is the oldest skyscraper designed by holabird and roche still standing in chicago. completed in 1891, the 14-story building features some dazzling terra cotta, monogrammed hardware, and ornamental iron elevator cages (repurposed). northwestern executed the terra cotta and elevator ornament was done...

01 Apr documenting destruction on dearborn street

Posted at 15:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

the last pocket of 19th century residential buildings spanning three decades (i.e., 1870s, 1880s, 1890s) on a downtown chicago city block are undergoing demolition, beginning with the heavily modified three-story 1870s italianate to the far left. the house in the middle features a painted brownstone (michigan...

29 Mar photographic study of adler and sullivan’s 1891 james charnley house revisited

Posted at 20:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

photographic images from continued documentation of the james charnely house interior are presented here throughout the post and image gallery. i plan to repeatedly visit and document and and all architectural characteristics - both inside and out - to gain further insight into the materials...

29 Mar a photographic survey of 19th and early 20th century residential and commercial buildings in la crosse, wisc.

Posted at 18:52h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

the following images were taken during a brief visit to la crosse, wisconsin, 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 in heritage,...

26 Mar frederick b. townsend-designed chicago residence bedecked with red slip northwestern terra cotta ornament faces demolition

Posted at 03:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

demolition? seriously? a friend of mine shared a facebook post pertaining to the possible demise of this largely intact 19th century residence, outfitted with early red slip terra cotta ornament (note the lion head rondel on the pediment) likely executed by thr northwestern terra cotta,...

25 Mar salvaging plaster ornament during demolition of adler and sullivan’s schiller building

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

richard nickel images documenting the many patterns of plaster ornament used in adler and sullivan's schiller building or garrick theater (1893) interior auditorium and 14th floor banquet hall before, during, and after demolition in 1961. nickel, john vinci and david norris spent months...

25 Mar two-story 19th century brick chicago boarding house with wood bracketed cornice and keystone undergoing demolition

Posted at 20:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

i recently got wind that this 19th century chicago brick residence with intact bracketed cornice, double arch top window accentuated with fret-sawn panel, and single incised keystone was targeted for demolition. by the time i arrived late yesterday afternoon, it was wrapped in green fence...

20 Mar latest salvaged chicago architectural artifacts, industrial furniture, ephermera, and objects

Posted at 14:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

18 Mar bldg. 51 museum acquires sizable cache of louis h. sullivan-designed chicago stock exchange building (1894) hardware

Posted at 19:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

louis h. sullivan-designed chicago stock exchange building (18930 door hardware, executed by the yale & towne mfg. co., stamford, ct. the ornamental cast iron hardware retains the original bower-barff finish, consisting of a magnetic iron oxide coating applied by exposure to superheated steam. the hardware pictured,...

17 Mar a photographic survey of adler and sullivan’s 1891 wainwright building’s ornament

Posted at 16:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Travel by Eric

i've waited a very long time - too long - to document adler & sullivan's wainwright building. studying the wainwright through through the eyes of hugh morrison, aaron siskind, richard nickel, and john szarkowski bolstered my interest and desire to see it for myself. with...

17 Mar bldg. 51 and glessner house join forces to present “remembering the garrick” talk by john vinci in fall of 2019

Posted at 08:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

Remembering the Garrick: An Evening with John Vinci Tuesday September 24, 2019 at 7:00pm Glessner House 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago $10 per person A partner program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial The Garrick Theater (originally known as the Schiller Building) looms large in Chicago history – both as a masterpiece...

12 Mar two-story post-fire workers cottage built for valdemar mortonsen in 1876 faces demolition

Posted at 22:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

in november of 2017 i wrote a blog post about this two-story post-fire workers cottage likely built for valdemar mortonsen in 1876. the largely intact brick cottage with pine wood bracketed cornice features "artificial stone" window hoods with distinctive keystones accentuated with palmettes. i was alarmed...