while rearranging our large assortment of interior and exterior artifacts salvaged from the historically important daniel h. burnham-designed reliance building last week, we rediscovered crates filled with matching cast iron hinges, escutcheons, doorknobs, office door mail chutes and window sash pulls. the urban remains's website does offer...
first we solidified a deal involving the recent acquisition of a vast array and sizable quantity of industrial stools in both angled and tubular steel form with maple wood and metal seats. a few days later we came across an impressive assortment of old university...
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 22, 300 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...
since the day i discovered a light blue cobalt glass william h. hutchinson soda or mineral water bottle resting on a thick privy wood floor discovered behind the john kent russell house, i've been buying each and every virtually identical " w.h.h."cobalt bottle as if...
a set of rare and historically important interior darwin d. martin house (1903-1905) wall-mount sconces were acquired by the bldg. 51 museum this week. the strongly geometric designed interior single electric light sconces exhibit a mostly uniform surface patina throughout. it is uncertain whether the white...
a total of 18 matching all original and completely intact american vintage industrial shop stools were acquired earlier this week. the low-lying stools are identical both in seat type (i.e., solid contoured maple wood) and riveted joint angled steel base configuration. the stools were salvaged from...
i've removed several interior ornamented cast iron greek corinthian style capitals (located at the topmost region of load-bearing columns), found on the first floor of many high ceiling 19th century loft style commercial buildings or "blocks" dating between the 1860's and 1880's. the great majority...
urban remains has invested a great of time documenting, researching and salvaging at 500 north milwaukee - the site of approximately eleven distinct buildings constructed primarily during the 19th century. despite each building having its own unique identity in terms of architectural style and former...
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 22, 200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...
lately i’ve been incredibly busy. bouncing between concurrent salvages contributes to the chaos of my burgeoning schedule. i'm no doubt overwhelmed with the daunting projects and events i’m committed to, all while prioritizing "on the fly" photo documentation, and subsequent research. it's becoming increasingly difficult...
this might seem bold and perhaps foolish from a business standpoint, but i have emptied my showroom entirely of any displayable artifacts, in order to create a blank slate that i hope will transition it from a retail setting to a space for events, lectures...
in the next 3-4 weeks, the printed version of the highly anticipated bldg. 51 museum building artifact book will be available for purchase. copies of the profusely illustrated, full color book will be available at the urban remain's store and/or can be ordered online through...
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 22, 000 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...
UPDATE AS OF 2024: this was posted 9 YEARS AGO. apologies, but we no longer have any left! fortunately, there are a surprisingly healthy supply of original depression-era american streamlined style back bars that remain in use and well-maintained in chicago area bars. a few of...
identifying any and all morphological properties of these mid-19th century bottles (see below) remain difficult to nail down, considering that the experimental fabrication methodologies were performed by the lungs and hands of the glassmith or blower, apprentices and children under dire conditions were output meant...
even with the historically important john kent russell house having been demolished last summer, i have revisited the vacant site time and again to freely explore and ultimately unearth any and all artifacts left behind by the numerous occupants that called this place "home" since...
despite the brutally cold weather and piles of snow every which way, we made our way to the interconnected cluster of gray painted buildings (nine of the eleven bearing historic significance to one degree or another), formerly used to house a vast array of restaurant...
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...
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...
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...