15 Nov

Posted at 14:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i spent the afternoon last week helping my friend tim samuelson transport an ornamental terra cotta figural rondel head salvaged from sullivan & adler's schiller building (garrick theater) to be repaired by another mutual friend, mike gruzca, in preparation for an upcoming exhibit. gruzca is...

13 Nov

Posted at 21:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

several 1870's-era joilet limestone commercial and residential structures have been wiped away from chicago's ciyscape this year. i find this deeply disconcerting. could you imagine buildings in soho, fronted with cast iron facades, being broken apart and scrapped? just as with the buildings in soho's cast...

13 Nov

Posted at 04:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

as i stood across the street from the congress theater's facade,  i was reminded of my good fortune, to at one time have had intimate, unabridged access to the chicago athletic association's intricately ornamented building facade. the athletic club had a similar scaffolding configuration as...

11 Nov

Posted at 03:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

after keeping a watchful eye on the post-fire richard maurice birdsall cottage since the day it was handed a death sentence earlier this summer, the moment finally arrived when the wrecking machine was delivered to 1241 n. state street. less than 24 hours later, a cottage...

09 Nov

Posted at 06:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

when i pulled up to the site, to document and extract park view church's time capsule, all that remained standing of this gargatuan gothic-style bedford limestone church was a portion of the exterior facade. the zettler windows had been carefully removed by us a...

09 Nov

Posted at 05:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

nearly a week after spending several consecutive days devoted to carefully and painstakingly extracting "munich style" art glass windows executed by f.x. zettler and drehobl brothers, i'm still incredibly exhausted and applying copious amount of tiger balm to my arms to ease the pain and...

05 Nov

Posted at 17:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

once again i took the time to carefully extract, thoroughly clean, and reassemble the floor boards of an 1860's-era chicago cottage privy vault. the sanitary pit was covered over long ago, as indoor plumbing was becoming more readily available during the late 19th century. the house's...

01 Nov

Posted at 20:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

i was already stressed and exhausted from pulling the last of the zettler-signed "munich" style windows from the park view lutheran church's interior (1929) , when i was forced to pause for an hour as a wrecking machine nearby began pulling down the facade of the...

26 Oct

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

for the past two weeks i've devoted nearly every afternoon methodically and painstakingly extracting any and all art glass windows from the soon-to-be-demolished gothic style park view lutheran church featuring an indiana blue limestone facade and single bell tower topped by a an unusual oversized...

24 Oct

Posted at 15:09h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

two single-sided cast aluminum art deco style bas-relief panels (fabricator unknown) with highly abstract designs depicting the "transmission of sound," make an otherwise utilitarian industrial "switching office" building (completed in 1932, holabird & root, architects) a worthwhile destination for architectural and/or art deco enthusiasts to admire...

23 Oct

Posted at 21:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the imagery in this photo-essay offers a detailed look at the heavily ornamented exterior terra cotta and ironwork adorning william le baron jenney's 1888 manhattan building - known as the oldest surviving skyscraper utilizing steel skeleton frame construction. the collections of photographs might appear redundant at...

19 Oct

Posted at 04:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

driving down orchard street today i discovered an amazingly intact 19th century clapboard workers cottage surrounded by several monstrous mcmansions so ridiculously huge and devoid of character i felt equally nauseous and claustrophobic. only by focusing on the well-preserved architectural characteristics of the warm and inviting pre-fire 1860's era cottage (which...

18 Oct

Posted at 19:44h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

below, are just a few examples of hundreds of fireplace mantels, coal baskets, gas inserts, and summer covers available for sale through the end of this week. any and all category items have been discounted. click here to be redirected to the sale category. ...

18 Oct

Posted at 02:50h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts salvaged and/or acquired and posted in the urban remains massive website catalog (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one...

14 Oct

Posted at 21:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i was called to examine a desolate triangular-shaped parcel of land being excavated on the near north side shortly after i completed documenting the soon-to-be demolished art deco style 1930's ornamental limestone facade concealing "buddy's parking garage" on clark street (images highlighting the exterior decorative elements will be...

13 Oct

Posted at 15:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

another well-maintained 19th century brick workers cottage, boasting an interior that had been unaltered since the depression, was ripped apart in a matter of hours earlier this week. the two-story brick cottage, bedecked with a bracketed wood cornice, deeply incised window hoods or headers, and the original double pine...

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