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...
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...
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)...
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...
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...
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...
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)...
[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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
exterior restoration work has resumed on the jewelers building (1927). the northeast turret - one of four used to conceal water tanks for fire suppression - is completely shrouded for repair. several rope border panels under the oversized corbels have been extracted - they will likely...
an early 20th century factory with white glazed terra cotta (possibly fabricated by the midland terra cotta company) located at 825-855 w. adams is undergoing demolition. thanks to moshe tamssot for bringing this to my attention. i photographed the exterior a few weeks ago, but looking...
a demolition permit has been issued for a 19th century 3-story masonry residential building with joliet limestone window hoods. the well-maintained structure is located at 530 w. dickens ave. any and all tenants have moved out. i didn't have a great deal of time to make...
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...