BLDG51. News and Events |

13 Jun three-story brick commercial building at 170-172 . halsted latest building to fall in fulton market district

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

the following selection of images were taken during the salvage operation at 170-172 n. halsted. we salvaged anything and everything, including old elevator equipment and a pair of steel elevator doors. our work is done there, but i will likely stick around to document the...

10 Jun haunting imagery of the reliance building prior to it’s major overhaul and conversion into a “boutique hotel”

Posted at 01:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

[caption id="attachment_37268" align="alignleft" width="1200"] undated kodachrome slide courtesy of the john vinci collection.[/caption] i recently stumbled across several images taken by an amateur photographer of the reliance building prior to extensive renovations - both inside and out - in preparation for it's new life as a...

07 Jun final moments of chicago stock exchange building captured by john vinci

Posted at 22:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

john vinci kodachrome images capturing the final moments of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) in late april of 1972. note the gargantuan main steel trusses (fully exposed) that spanned the elaborately stenciled trading room. the stock exchange was completed in 1894 by the...

03 Jun chicago’s historic village theater reduced to facedectomy after its auditorium demolished

Posted at 04:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

a few months ago (see blog entry below) i documented the village theater (built in 1916 as gemania) shortly before the building's auditorium was set to be demolished. as of this afternoon, only the theater's facade is left standing - still concealed in part by...

31 May documenting chicago’s 19th and early 20th century architectural ornament revisited

Posted at 22:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

a renewed and increasingly obsessive interest in painstakingly photographing architectural ornament on downtown chicago's landmarked buildings has been a welcome change from spending hours on end digitizing any and all ephemera and photographic images tied to the first chicago school of architecture - another project...

31 May latest bldg. 51 museum and chicago architectural ornament archive acquisitions

Posted at 02:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

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 recently added to the bldg. 51 museum and its newly formed sister organization focusing architectural ornament and ephemera (website for...

30 May latest urban remains website catalog acquisitions

Posted at 14:44h 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 35,700 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

28 May three 19th century chicago masonry worker cottages faced with demolition

Posted at 02:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

three 19th century masonry worker cottages located on the north and west side of chicago were issued demolition permits within one week of each other. as of this writing, one has already been reduced to rubble. a red brick two-flat with jeweled and beveled transom windows...

27 May meticulously documenting 19th century residential and commercial square or machine “cut” iron nails

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

in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" publication (slated for completion after "unearthing chicago hits circulation), i continue data-gathering by documenting any and all building material used in the construction of the balloon frame, beginning from the 1840's on through the 1880's. all of the material collected thus far...

27 May 1880’s victorian-era commercial building with union works ornamental iron storefront demolished

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

the following images are from a two-story victorian era commercial building built around 1882. additional research will hopefully flesh out architect and/or builder along with commercial and residential tenements that resided there since the time the building was completed. the largely intact storefront was...

23 May newly added architectural artifacts and objects added to urban remains catalog

Posted at 14:34h 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 35,600 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

21 May photographic study of the carrie eliza getty tomb’s exterior ornament

Posted at 00:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

[caption id="attachment_37444" align="alignleft" width="1000"] sullivan devoted a great deal of energy to the masonry joinery, making it a critical facet of the structure's overall composition. the ashlar limestone slabs were arranged horizontally to form the lower walls. the arches and windows or portals are surrounded...

20 May publication of garrick theater salvage book top priority for 2018

Posted at 08:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

sorting through and processing boxes of carefully cataloged richard nickel contact sheets documenting the life and death of adler & sullivan's schiller building (later known as the garrick theater) has resurrected my laser-like focus or "maniacal obsession" from a seemingly inescapable or crippling battle with...

16 May recent salvaged architectural objects added to urban remains online catalog

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

the following 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 35,500 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...

12 May reconstruction of adler and sullivan’s trading room through john vinci’s kodachrome slides

Posted at 20:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

john vinci kodachrome slides documenting the reconstruction of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building trading room. thankfully, john dated each and every slide, so we have a concise timeline of the room's reconstruction. i hope to have any and all slides (taken by john...

12 May bldg. 51 museum secures historically important terra cotta from demolished francisco apartments

Posted at 01:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

three sections of nearly identical ornamental terra cotta roofline or coping panels featuring repeating hand-applied balls or spheres joined the bldg. 51 museum building artifact collection. ornament from the early wright-designed apartment complex was salvaged and distributed during demolition in 1973. the pieces acquired by...

04 May more objects of chicago’s past, given context by assigning narratives

Posted at 02:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following post contains another installment of objects, culled from various ongoing projects (both past and present), which were selected and assembled as a "hodgepodge" cohered by the single theme of being largely utilitarian objects from chicago's past. as previously stated, when we can flesh...

03 May william le baron jenney-designed richardsonian romanesque church as the church of the redeemer

Posted at 18:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

immersing myself in ornament is highly therapeutic - a portal to the past where i belong. william le baron jenney-designed richardsonian romanesque church built as the second universalist society as the church of the redeemer. completed in 1885-1886. the richly ornamented unglazed terra cotta was...

03 May historically important chicago machinery exchange building destroyed

Posted at 03:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the 3-story 1910 chicago machinery exchange warehouse - designed by d.h. burnham & company - has been reduced to rubble. it truly amazes me that a richly ornamented and well-maintained building designed by daniel burnham's firm has been destroyed with little resistance. despite overextending myself...

30 Apr bldg. 51 museum acquires drummond-designed avery coonley remodel playhouse leaded glass windows

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

the bldg. 51 museum recently secured through auction a pair of original and amazingly intact 1918-1919 william e. drummond-designed interior residential leaded glass windows accentuated with richly colored and festive flashed glass rectangles and squares. the strongly geometric windows were likely fabricated by the linden glass...