07 Mar

Posted at 21:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

7 the following acquisitions (see images below), in the form of architectural building fragments, photographic images, and, miscellaneous ephemera, represent a fraction of historically important materials added to the bldg. 51 museum and its sister organization, with the latter focusing on architectural ornament and ephemera from...

05 Mar

Posted at 08:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

building 51 is a privately funded organization dedicated to researching, documenting, and preserving chicago’s architectural history and legacy. prompted by the alarming rate of destruction of chicago’s 19th and early 20th century workers cottages, building 51 has incorporated and in the process of filing "chicago...

28 Feb

Posted at 05:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

an amazingly intact and well-maintained post-fire brick workers cottage with original fret-sawn bracketed pine wood cornice, oculus, and frear or ransom's artificial stone incised window hoods with centrally located ornamental keystones, will be destroyed in the next week. the address is 1938 n. mohawk street. the...

22 Feb

Posted at 19:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

one of two figural red slip-glazed terra cotta panels adorning fourth street school (1890). the richardonsian romanesque style school, now known as golda meir school, was built by architect -henry c. koch (perhaps best known for milwaukee's city hall building, completed in 1895).  ...

20 Feb

Posted at 03:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

an early 20th century two-story chicago fire house (vacated in 1964) with bedford limestone incised plaque and municipal device just below the roofline, is currently undergoing demolition. the long-abandoned fire house is located in the old union stockyards, near a dumpster distribution center.  ...

19 Feb

Posted at 15:25h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

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)...

17 Feb

Posted at 04:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

as chicago's garrick theater (adler and sullivan, 1892) was dying a slow death in 1961, navy pier served as the makeshift graveyard for sullivan’s terra cotta and plaster ornament, where it was received, reassembled, documented, and crated for distribution to institutions across the country.  this is...

13 Feb

Posted at 00:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

back-to-back demolition of 1880’s victorian era commercial building and adjoining residential boarding house comprised of brick accentuated with joilet limestone ornament ornament. the commercial building was especially difficult to see destroyed since it retained the original dearborn foundry “no. 2” cast iron and steel front...

12 Feb

Posted at 00:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

hermann v von holst's southside chicago comed substation (also known as the gaitan building, 1924) is still standing, but the degree of deterioration since the last time i visited at the beginning of 2018 is far worse than i expected. moisture penetration deeply embedded...

11 Feb

Posted at 21:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

i haven't seen many richard nickel images of first floor lobby, staircase, and office corridors in adler & sullivan's schiller building (1892) as they appeared shortly before demolition in 1961. seeing the damage from numerous alterations (e.g., littered with a neoclassical treatment despised by sullivan) from...

09 Feb

Posted at 15:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

exceptionally rare early 1930's northwestern terra cotta company portfolio (one of four volumes) consisting of 12 plates devoted to "modern style" terra cotta ornament. the majority of the plates feature designs from notable buildings in chicago (i've included a few examples).  while i'm thrilled...

31 Jan

Posted at 04:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

harvard's memorial hall is an excellent example of 1870s high victorian gothic style, characterized by towers and turrets, corbelled and patterned brickwork, gargoyles, patterned shingles, mansard roofs, polychrome color schemes, and carved or pressed brick ornament.  the building - considered to be one of the most...

28 Jan

Posted at 19:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

a closer look at john root's exterior ornament adorning st. gabriel's church (1887). i mainly focused on carved brownstone (cannot recall if the sandstone was quarried in michigan) ornament located on the north and west facades of church. building alterations, including additions (e.g., vestibule and...

23 Jan

Posted at 15:55h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

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 45,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

22 Jan

Posted at 03:30h in Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

urban remains recently bought out a large assortment of late 19th and early 20th century plumbing fixtures and parts from a well-established plumbing company that's in the process of closing its doors after nearly a century in business. based in oak park, the company outfitted, replaced,...

19 Jan

Posted at 03:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

another year has come to a close and looking back, the bldg. 51 museum collection  managed to secure several historically important architectural fragments, along with the addition of a rapidly growing archive, consisting of period photographs, books, documents, and other related materials, to compliment the...

09 Jan

Posted at 03:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

two 19th century post fire two-story italianate style brick rowhouses on webster await the wrecking ball. the well-maintained masonry homes are accentuated with seldom seen richly colored enameled minton tiles with visually striking designs.  in addition to photographing the facade in great detail, i stepped back...

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