07 Nov

Posted at 04:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

  less than 24 hours after securing three historically important 19th and early 20th century chicago building artifacts, i've researched, photographed, and cataloged them for future exhibit in the bldg. 51 museum. images and brief descriptions below. the early 20th century glazed terra cotta rearing lions were...

02 Nov

Posted at 19:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the stevens-davis advertising company building (completed, 1921) is set to be smashed. i was alerted this morning through cityscape's demo tracker (see link below).  the facade is adorned with exquisite polychrome glazed terra cotta ornament executed by the midland terra cotta company. i'm curious whether the...

31 Oct

Posted at 14:28h in Bldg. 51, 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 40,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

31 Oct

Posted at 03:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

documenting louis sullivan's national famers' bank of owatonna (1908) was exhausting. pouring over and carefully selecting hundreds of images cataloging sullivan, millet, and elmslie's ornament has left me with extreme eye fatigue.  the ornament's energy was intense, but at the same time, calming. hard to explain,...

23 Oct

Posted at 21:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

an original and historically important john wellborn root-designed ornamental cast iron pilaster fragment, salvaged during the removal the the building's adams street entrance staircase, is the latest addition to the bldg. 51's every-growing museum architectural ornament collection.  construction of the rookery building took place between...

17 Oct

Posted at 04:46h in Bldg. 51, 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 40,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

14 Oct

Posted at 02:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

with cook county hospital's facade - comprised mainly of ornamental terra cotta - now scrubbed clean, scaffolding is being erected to being the arduous task of repairing and replacing the massive facade's damaged elements. in addition to addressing the building's existing terra cotta, the restoration...

08 Oct

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

with some "downtime" (whatever that means) this evening, i decided to slowly begin processing the enormous mountain of data generated from the seemingly unending residential demolitions that happened back in april. it should be no surprise that nearly every blog post lately mentions my ongoing battle...

05 Oct

Posted at 18:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

this post briefly touches upon a meticulously recreated adler and sullivan garrick theater (1891) hand-painted stenciled canvas section - mainly through images taken at the time it was discovered and/or recovered when adler and sullivan's garrick theater (1891) was undergoing demolition.  during the schiller building's demolition...

03 Oct

Posted at 14:45h 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 40,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

02 Oct

Posted at 03:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

while working at the ryerson and burnham archives the other day, i stumbled across several folders containing silver gelatin prints documenting the construction of cook county hospital from beginning to end. i quickly realized , this set of prints haven't been circulated in the public domain...

28 Sep

Posted at 15:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

although sullivan and adler's auditorium building (1889) has been documented time and again in previous bldg. 51 blog posts, i have yet to present a collection of historic images and artifacts from the building in a single entry. the following images and artifacts were obtained from...

18 Sep

Posted at 02:58h 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 45,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

11 Sep

Posted at 20:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

a selection of 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,...

08 Sep

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

yet another largely intact late 19th century chicago two-flat with incised joliet limestone window hoods is undergoing demolition. the roof and railings had been ripped off when i arrived.  after leaving the defaced house, i drove about a mile away to document a former synagogue (completed...

04 Sep

Posted at 22:27h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several boxes filled with late 19th and early 20th century antique american elevator signs and artifacts collected by an elevator serviceman while working on historically important buildings from new york city to philadelphia arrived at urban remains last week. the collection includes seldom found signage and...

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