By: Scott A. Rappe, AIA We have not had to face this question for awhile, but with tentative signs of economic improvement, East Village, Wicker Park and Bucktown are beginning to see rampant tear downs again. In the last six weeks, on Wood Street between Chicago...
every morning i'm hit with an email notification detailing the number of city of chicago demolition permits issued for 19th and early 20th century residential and commercial structures alike. as i review each and every permit issued, i increasingly feel an urgent self-induced pressure to seek out and document...
when time permits, i will make sure to supplement the following series of images with an explanation and discussion of this salvage. the photos document the demolition of a 19th century victorian era transplanted wood-framed workers cottage. two interesting finds during the demolition: the discovery of a...
the small chicago worker's cottage was torn down long ago, but from the smattering of objects unearthed (thus far) during excavation, i managed to gain some insight into what transpired there, beginning from the time of construction sometime during the mid-19th century. i was notified early one...
the number of daily demolition notifications i receive is incredibly alarming on so many levels. this is no doubt a mantra i have repeatedly expressed in prior posts, interviews, etc. i will expound upon this further when attending the 19th century building materials exhibit that...
it all started late last year when i befriended and later invited architectural critic lynn becker over to my place to have a drink and discuss the john kent russell house. i had little agenda except to converse about shared interests, and drinking a couple beers in the midst...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 25,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
the bldg. 51 museum has multiple 19th century artifacts from adler and sullivan's guaranty building. these include an interior staircase baluster, which is the only surviving all-original lobby flush mount light fixture ceiling medallion (the current fixtures in situ are recasts), and a few doorknobs...
By Rick Kogan contact the reporter|Chicago Tribune| Images courtesy of Eric J. Nordstrom The block of Burton Place between LaSalle and Wells streets is as charming and architecturally distinctive a block as you will find in the city. Go ahead, have a look. It is also a quiet,...
for well over 18 years now, whenever i encountered this remarkable german baroque style mansion, built for joseph b. kalvelage in 1896 by local architect otto strack, i felt a strong sense of unease as i approached the facade with my camera. it certainly didn't help...
this week urban remains acquired multiple swing-out seat lunchroom tables removed long ago from the former farley and loetscher millwork factory founded in 1875 by christian loetscher. located in dubque, ia., the mill was incorporated in 1881 as the farley and loetscher manufacturing company. by 1910 the farley and...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
Deconstructing Early Chicago Saturday October 17 & Sunday October 18, 2015 9:00am-5:00pm Coach House of Glessner House Museum 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616 Free Admission Clarke House Museum and Building 51 Museum will partner to present a special exhibition of early Chicago building fragments and systems on display in the historic...
upon discovering this building i instantly fell in love with and greatly admired the slim and sleek profile of the chicago motor club building, which like the nearby carbide and carbon building by architects holabird and roche (reopened as the hard rock hotel in 2004), was well...
portable fire escapes date back to 18th century england, where in 1784, daniel maseres invented a machine simply called a "fire escape," a device fastened to the window of a building that would enable a person to descend to the street without injury. abraham wivell created an...
prior to visiting this site, i had only seen it in pictures, by way of google street view. despite toggling back and forth between images of the house between 2007-2014 on google's "timeline," it was difficult to ascertain stylistic features or architectural characteristics that would provide better...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
urban remains carries a vast selection of "portable" fairies lighting fixtures spanning from the company's founding in the late 19th century to the 1950's. from patented bracketed wall and ceiling fixtures, to table lamps and shades, we offer some of the very best lighting (in some...
very little remains of a. finkl & sons foundry as demolition draws to a close. the images below were taken a few days ago when i visited the site. even though our work there was completed weeks ago, i had been itching to return and photodocument what,...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...