the noble square neighborhood "cornerstore" facing demolition began as a single story brick workers cottage, likely constructed in the latter half of the 1870's. through time the back section of the structure remained residential, while the front underwent dramatic reconstruction, including removal of the majority...
visiting la crosse, wisc. this past week was incredibly therapeutic - effectively reducing levels of stress and anxiety that were becoming overly toxic and depleting me of the energy necessary to wake each morning prepared to document the never-ending building deaths throughout chicago. [caption id="attachment_25058" align="alignleft" width="1200"]...
the following compilation of images were taken from various chicago excavations - both commercial and residential over the past few weeks. the wide range of objects or artifacts recovered (and in many cases documented in the studio) include 19th century wood "pilings" once supporting a...
while poring over demolition permits issued over the past few days, a particular brick cottage jumped forward. the facade of this exemplary mid-1880's brick cottage - replete with deeply incised keystones, paneled bargeboard and bracketed cornice - nearly made my heart skip a beat. i...
a visit to new york city always presents a welcome change, to throw into relief the day-to-day documenting and salvaging of chicago's demolitions, and provide a more relaxed experience of mid-19th century ornamental cast iron architecture filled with manufacturer markings to later research. a lengthy stroll through...
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...
the following collection of images offers a small visual record of the painstakingly slow eradication of two adjoining late 19th century multi-story masonry chicago buildings that housed vincent formusa's italian import business (see above) since 1898. the discovery and subsequent documentation of the building's hidden upper-story "time capsule" during its...
a theater-related acquisition this week joins the bldg. 51 collection, as a rare remnant of restoration efforts that took place at the iconic chicago theater over twenty years ago. the highly ornate floral terra cotta fragments were fabricated by boston valley, the decorative cream-colored terra...
it's been nearly two years since i got to spend several consecutive afternoons photographing the entire facade of henry ives cobb's chicago athletic association building. my access was granted during a time when the building was covered from top to bottom in a web of scaffolding,...
on friday, september 24th, i received a phone call from a very elated brad suster, president of preservation chicago, informing me that the historically important st. boniface church erected in 1902 will not face the wrecking ball. instead, the remarkable henry schlacks-designed church building had...
an alarming number of chicago churches constructed in the 19th and early 20th century have been taken down this year. st. john's (1910) on moffatt street is the latest casualty. when i arrived on its last day, it was already a pile of ruin with the exception...
two 19th century houses were handed the death sentence earlier this week. the late 1890' two-flat with rusticated stone arches on george street (see below) has already been pulled apart and trucked off. the second house (1880-1884), replete with pressed ornamental brick, rusticated stone, and exceptional...
after the evergreen street post-fire cottage (1874) was brought down and the dust settled, i jumped up on the heavily notched old growth white pine wood sill plates, resting atop the few brick walls that remained standing. with camera in tow, i aimed to closely examine the materials...
as the facade of st. john's church came crumbling down (a terrible loss for chicago's preservation movement) several pieces of limestone ornament, the dated cornerstone, and the copper time capsule found within it, were carefully removed. they are currently being documented in my studio, where...
when in new york i always visit sullivan's bayard-condict building (1897-1899) not only to reacquaint myself with an "old friend" of sorts, but to closely study and photo-document the exceptional white glazed terra cotta facade through time, executed by the perth amboy terra cotta company, perth amboy, nj....
several original single-sided documented brushed and refurbished cast iron staircase panels recently entered the bldg. 51 collection: the exquisite cast iron ornament exhibit symmetrical and restrained floral motif inside overlapping geometric shapes that once adorned the stairs of a historic uptown building whose alteration is intertwined with...
The Eric J. Nordstrom Interview Posted on September 16, 2016 Since I was a much younger person I've been interested in "lost" Chicago, the buildings that have been boarded up or torn down and lost to history (you can check out an interview with David Garrard...
the decorators'' supply company traces its history back to 1883 when the original founders, simon strahn and richard c. foster, established a partnership to manufacture "artistic decorative accessories." an old lease document dated april 13, 1890 describes the company as a carving and guilders business. by...
a remarkably intact wood-framed cottage with gable front was reduced to rubble in a matter of hours this past weekend. once the residence of william schmidt - a chicago patrolman during the 1870's - the house likely dated to shortly after the great chicago fire...
the bldg. 51 museum has secured several historically important chicago building artifacts over the past month that are just now being carefully documented and photographed for exhibition in the ever-growing collection. earlier this week it began with an all original heavily ornamented figural cast iron...