by eric j. nordstrom & ornament chicago ongoing destruction of the south side masonic temple (1921) has greatly disfigured the building. it's mesmerizing to watch the wrecking ball repeatedly being dropped on the indiana limestone along the north facade, while at the same, bearing witness to...
the 3-story 1910 chicago machinery exchange warehouse - designed by d.h. burnham & company - will be demolished in the coming weeks. the warehouse with basement (100x200) is located at 1217 w. washington blvd. at first i thought the ornament, including the eagles were comprised of terra...
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 35,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...
by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago here are the latest images from clarence hatzfeld's south side masonic temple demolition. the high reach hasn't been brought to life yet, but the ball has been swinging against the northeast corner of the building. not sure if the...
after spending nearly a year researching and documenting the restoration of l.h. sullivan's gage building (1899) terra cotta exterior, i began looking through and scanning any and all images of the visually stunning ornamental cast iron storefront executed by the winslow brothers foundry, chicago, ills....
between 1881 and 1895 louis henry sullivan and engineer dankmar adler designed a series of office towers, including the chicago stock exchange building (extant from 1894 to 1972), their largest building and perhaps most important commission. noteworthy for the firm's inspired solution to...
by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago i finally made time to edit more images of chicago's south side masonic temple (1921) demolition. the six-story structural steel and reinforced concrete frame structure with red face brick and carved bedford limestone facade was designed by chicago architect...
three sections of cove molding were salvaged from albert sullivan's residence (1891) shortly before or during the house was deconstructed/demolished in 1970 (portions of the facade were removed by richard nickel and his brother donald for southern illinois university with the hope that the facade...
by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago the south side masonic temple (1921) is presently under demolition. it has been less than six months since I documented the demolition of the logan square masonic temple, also by clarence hatzfeld, architect, and more can be read about...
the humboldt garage & auto service company building, erected in 1911 by f.w. ries, is undergoing demolition. i'm sure i will be back to document its final moments. ...
the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired architectural artifacts (including an original early 20th century watercolor rendering that hung in the lobby) from the historically important columbus memorial building (boyington, 1893) and its neighbor, the venetian building (holabird & roche, 1892), which happened to share a...
by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago i was notified the other day that the ingleside community church of the nazarene (1905) located at the corner of 72nd and ingleside will be wrecked in the coming weeks. naturally, i struggled with internal resistance since i had...
the following images (see below) represent a small selection of bldg. 51 museum architectural fragments acquired during 2017. the museum collection continues to revolve around chicago artifacts, with a greater emphasis placed on commercial buildings designed by notable architectural firms (e.g., burnham & root, jenney...
all original c. 1920's antique american ornamental cast iron interior oriental theater auditorium chair or seat end, fabricated by the heywood-wakefield company, menominee, mich. the highly ornamented single-sided cast iron figural cover seat end was salvaged from the auditorium when the seating arrangement was reconfigured...
next year i will force myself to set time aside and digitize my entire reference library containing 19th century architectural trade journals, company catalogs, salesman samples, booklets, brochures, etc. for example, after rediscovering an early 20th century binder, containing double-sided plates with wood samples in...
spending a great deal of time documenting chicago's architectural ornament in 2017 was a great form of therapy and/or distraction from documenting the death of buildings and...
the first chinese arrived in chicago after 1869, shortly after the first transcontinental railroad was completed. by the late 19th century, a quarter of chicago's approximately six hundred chinese residents settled just south of downtown along clark street between van buren and harrison streets. in 1889, sixteen chinese-owned businesses...
it's become impossible to resist my maniacal desire to photograph chicago's cityscape, and that's a good thing. i'm a terribly anxious person in the present, so i counter that by living in the past. in some unexplainable way, i feel i belong there. it's no...
the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired a historically important collection containing hundreds of 1871 chicago fire insurance claims, letters, city permits, flyers, and advertisements revolving around the dry good merchants, bowen, winslow, and hunt. countless hours have been spent sorting through and digitizing piles of...
a look back at 2017, beginning with a summation of 2016 and ending with the publication of "lost and found." the links to 43 out of 450 blog entries posted in 2017 are listed below. https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/12/26/lost-and-found-a-bldg-51-publication-is-now-available-for-sale/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/12/20/demolished-james-higgie-building-lives-on-through-salvaged-ornament-and-images/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/11/30/3-days-in-nyc-documenting-historic-architecture-and-preservation-efforts/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/10/19/documenting-restoration-of-chicagos-historic-buildings-this-fall/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/09/30/chicago-fragments-from-john-vincis-past/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/09/27/installation-of-gage-buildings-recreated-terra-cotta-cartouche-completed/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/09/23/louis-h-sullivans-farmers-and-merchants-union-bank-1919-in-photographs/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/08/28/tradesmans-beer-bottle-discovered-in-the-wall-of-a-19th-century-chicago-cottage-undergoing-demolition/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/08/24/2017-the-year-of-documenting-downtown-chicagos-19th-early-20th-century-architectural-ornament-at-feverish-pace/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/08/17/minnesota-roadtrip-merchants-national-bank-foshay-tower-masonic-temple-and-beyond/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/08/16/documenting-historic-chicago-movie-palaces-remains-top-priority-for-2017/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/08/04/bldg-51-museum-acquires-lost-records-of-architectural-firm-graven-and-mayger/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/07/31/vast-assortment-of-ephemera-photographs-drawings-and-books-from-the-architectural-offices-of-jenney-mundie-acquired-by-bldg-51-museum/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/07/18/documenting-a-post-fire-chicago-italianate-row-house-staircase-during-its-deconstruction/ 17/a-photographic-study-of-historic-commercial-building-ornament-in-la-crosse-wisc/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/07/07/high-noon-entertainment-collaborating-with-eric-j-nordstrom-on-documenting-the-death-of-buildings/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/06/29/documenting-a-post-fire-chicago-row-house-where-time-stood-still/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/06/29/a-closer-look-at-george-frears-patented-pre-chicago-fire-artificial-italianate-row-house-keystones/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/06/21/nortown-theater-taught-me-how-to-thoroughly-document-and-deconstruct/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/06/08/the-frank-lloyd-wright-windows-of-the-bldg-51-architectural-artifact-museum/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/25/photographic-study-of-19th-century-objects-discovered-in-stud-cavity-of-post-fire-chicago-cottage-during-its-demolition/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/25/bldg-51-museum-collaborates-with-decorators-supply-company-in-making-limited-run-of-recast-auditorium-theater-proscenium-vault-ventilation-domes/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/22/gage-building-facade-restoration-leads-to-boston-valley-terra-cotta-company-visit/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/16/the-chicago-terra-cotta-company-and-william-lebaron-jenneys-starkweather-building/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/15/a-very-special-artifact-salvaged-by-richard-nickel-offers-inspiration-and-motivation-to-carry-on/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/10/behind-the-lovers-playground-a-frank-lloyd-wright-designed-architectural-detail-that-survived-the-wrecking-ball/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/05/05/19th-century-building-parts-and-bottles-unearthed-during-excavation-near-the-m-schultz-piano-factory-1889/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/27/bldg-51-museum-acquires-c-1908-henry-babson-house-stained-glass/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/24/uncovering-the-1920s-boot-of-a-theater-tradesman-in-the-congress-theater-attic/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/18/regarding-the-characteristics-of-stone-used-in-rebuilding-after-the-great-chicago-fire/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/16/a-remarkable-discovery-original-chicago-creosoted-wood-block-city-street-pavers-recently-discovered/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/09/systematic-deconstruction-of-the-850-lakeshore-drive-athletic-clubs-grand-interior-lobby/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/06/saic-lecture-series-trash-talks-the-afterlives-of-buildings/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/04/04/photodocumenting-suspended-animation-in-uptown-theaters-ornamental-terra-cotta-facade/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/03/22/the-bldg-51-museum-of-chicago-building-artifacts-continues-its-expansion-in-2017-with-several-newly-added-historically-important-pieces/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/03/09/bldg-51-museum-hosts-saic-historic-preservation-graduate-program-student-field-study-trip/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/03/02/full-figured-terra-cotta-eagles-carefully-extracted-during-final-moments-of-buick-dealership-demolition/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/02/20/the-death-and-regeneration-of-the-chicago-athletic-association-buildings-stalactite-ceiling/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/02/10/a-rare-glimpse-inside-rapp-and-rapps-central-park-theater-chicagos-oldest-extant-movie-palace/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/01/18/things-congress-theaters-plaster-tradesmen-left-behind/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/01/16/loewenberg-loewenbergs-logan-square-automobile-showroom-demolished/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2017/01/05/documenting-and-deconstructing-the-19th-century-chicago-workers-cottage/ https://bldg51.com/news-and-events/2016/12/31/a-sobering-recollection-of-chicagos-disappearing-cityscape-in-2016/ ...