BLDG51. News and Events |

03 Feb urban remains to salvage cluster of gray buildings (500-504 n. milwaukee avenue) facing demolition in coming weeks

Posted at 02:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the unusual collection of neglected and largely abandoned gray-painted buildings located at the intersection of grand, halsted and milwaukee, will be demolished in the coming weeks. urban remains will begin salvaging any and all interior and exterior ornament (the latter during the demolition phase), beginning tomorrow...

30 Jan several sets of early 20th century chicago area factory refinished cast iron machine bases recently added to urban remains’s website

Posted at 01:01h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

over the past few weeks we have been acquiring a sizable number of completely refinished american cast iron industrial machine bases salvaged from chicago area recently shuttered chicago area factories. the matching sets of bases available on the urban remains's website have been thoroughly cleaned and...

28 Jan remarkable walnut wood staircase salvaged from the joseph t. ryerson mansion (1873)

Posted at 10:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

this opulent post-fire chicago mansion, located north of the river on wabash avenue (formerly cass street) near ontario, was built for pioneer steel king joseph t. ryerson in 1873, at an estimated cost of 50,000 dollars by architects burling and adler. the successful industrialist established his...

27 Jan several newly acquired artifacts from residential salvages, privy pits and factories added this week

Posted at 13:35h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts 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 surpassed the 21, 900 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

26 Jan demystifying the history behind a two-story wood frame cottage during its demolition

Posted at 19:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

there wasn't anything (i.e., exterior or interior architectural artifacts) worth salvaging from this rather humdrum looking 19th century two-story wood frame cottage during a walk-through days before demolition was to begin. regardless, a few days later i returned and spent the greater part of an...

21 Jan looking back at metropolitan hall (pabst tavern) through three panes of colored cathedral glass

Posted at 01:35h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

just the other day i was reorganizing some of the artifacts in my "sentimental" storage boxes housed in my personal collection. most of the diminutive artifacts date back to 2000-2005, when i was still employed as a research scientist, but living a dichotomous lifestyle where...

19 Jan iron-pontiled privy dug bottles, machine bases and electrical devices added to the website this week

Posted at 16:49h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

16 Jan finding benefits in a missed residential salvage opportunity

Posted at 14:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

on the way to inspect two 19th century residences that are facing the backhoe next week, i stumbled across a nearly completed demolition of a two-story brick residence located west of the urban remains warehouse and showroom. after doing a little research, i managed to pinpoint...

14 Jan several more artifacts unearthed at the “big dig” site earlier this week

Posted at 15:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

despite the brutally cold weather, i began the work week at the "big dig" site with the hopes that we would discover a wood-lined privy towards the back of the two remaining (unexcavated) lots. immediately upon arriving at the site, the backhoe operator called me...

13 Jan the two year journey of photographing the chicago athletic association building is drawing to a close

Posted at 23:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

after nearly two years of volunteering my time to photodocument the historic chicago athletic association building (the initial walk through was back in early 2013 when aj capital was closing on the property) during its transformation from a dormant and unoccupied building to its gradual...

12 Jan some of the most recent artifacts added to urban remains website categories

Posted at 01:51h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

10 Jan three 19th century brick-lined privy pits yield very little, but digging will continue on next week

Posted at 23:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

with demolitions currently in a holding pattern, i shifted my focus back on the "big dig" site located on the west side of chicago. despite the fact that i have unearthed several artifacts (e.g., bottles and common household fragments) dating from the 1880's to the...

07 Jan great chicago fire “souvenir” medal struck from salvaged bronze bell of osdel-designed city hall (1853)

Posted at 10:51h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i stumbled across a rather interesting and historically-important artifact the other week in the form of a pocket-sized "souvenir" medal, representing the first anniversary of the disastrous conflagration known simply as the "great chicago fire" of 1871. the unique and diminutive artifact is commonly referred as...

06 Jan remembering the non-extant matthew uhl rowhouse (1871) through the discovery of a newel post

Posted at 13:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

over the christmas holiday we visited family and friends in my hometown of la crosse wisc. during our stay, and like others past, i managed to find time to photograph the ever-changing urban landscape (including an old train yard) in and around the downtown area. quite...

05 Jan a sampling of salvaged machine age illuminated informational signs acquired over the years

Posted at 13:18h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the photographic image gallery below represents a variety of mostly illuminated depression era informational and/or exit signs salvaged from theaters and commercial buildings across the country. the art deco style "machine age" signs were designed by numerous manufacturers, but identifying them has proved to be somewhat...

02 Jan chicago residential backyard privy pit yields several 19th century “blob top” glass soda bottles

Posted at 17:13h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

a very deep, brick-lined backyard privy pit was discovered on another job site yesterday where the house on the lot was constructed in the late 1880's according to city records. as of late, the brick-lined holes we have come across where originally used as privy...

02 Jan urban remains kicks off the new year with several newly listed items

Posted at 13:10h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21, 600 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

31 Dec unearthing a former parking lot yields a wealth of artifacts from chicago’s past

Posted at 10:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

beginning last week we were notified of a major excavation where a former parking lot will be redeveloped for condo construction. consisting of several lots, this massive parcel of land once contained multiple brick and wood-framed dwellings, according to sanborn insurance maps dating back to...

31 Dec a “behind the scenes” tour of the henry b. clarke house: chicago’s oldest residence

Posted at 01:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

there is already abundant and easily accessible background information on the henry b. clarke house (1836), one of chicago's earliest extant residential structures-turned museum, so i will avoid the inclusion of details surrounding the history of the house. instead, i will briefly touch upon some of...

30 Dec pontiled bottles tossed from a passing schooner in the early 1850’s discovered at wolf point

Posted at 01:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the focal point of wolf point "part two" moves away from the discovery of several mid-19th century pontiled soda and/or mineral water bottles during excavations in the 1980's, which were retrieved from intact wood-lined privy pits built and later filled by individuals that resided near...