BLDG51. News and Events |

31 Aug unearthing 19th and 20th century bottles frozen in time: a photo essay by eric j. nordstrom

Posted at 15:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

in preparation for publishing "unearthing chicago" in 2022, i've pulled some images capturing 19th and early 20th century bottles at excavation sites around chicago. shortly after being discovered, these remnants of victorian-era rubbish were carefully exposed by removing surrounding dirt and debris to reveal a...

31 Aug Driehaus Museum’s “Capturing Louis Sullivan: What Richard Nickel Saw” exhibit now open

Posted at 14:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

Capturing Louis Sullivan: What Richard Nickel Saw August 26, 2022 -February 19, 2023 Richard Nickel (1928-1972) was a Polish-American architectural photographer and preservationist. Nickel first encountered the work of Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) as a student, when photographing the architect’s buildings for a project at the IIT Institute...

31 Aug 2022 PHOTOGRAPHIC SURVEY OF LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY ST. LOUIS COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL BUILDING ORNAMENT

Posted at 13:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

selection of images taken during a brief visit to st. louis in the early summer months of 2022. prior blog posts from this trip focus on the work of harvey ellis commissions (with the exception of union station). ...

31 Aug adler & sullivan’s 1892 william loeb apartment then and now

Posted at 02:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

adler and sullivan's loeb apartments (1891-92) as they appeared in 1964 (photographed by richard nickel) compared to the present, with only the south entrance and two-story staircase left standing. sadly, the frank lloyd wright-designed bedford limestone entrance was heavily damaged from falling debris when the majority...

30 Aug chicago architectural ornament survey (caos) photographic images for august 2022

Posted at 14:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest photographic images from bldg. 51 archive's chicago architectural ornament survey (caos) are provided below. the ever-expanding photo-documentation project focuses on systematically recording any and all architectural ornament located on historically important 19th and early 20th century extant buildings located in downtown chicago and surrounding...

24 Aug searching for, and recovering hidden history buried deep within the walls of chicago cottages

Posted at 11:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

anticipating another year of lost buildings through demolition, i've already prepared additional storage space for the ever-growing collection of lost or discarded objects found under attic floorboards, ledger and sill plates, foundation walls, and stud cavities within those 19th century chicago cottages that are faced with...

24 Aug seldom seen richard nickel images of gene summers-designed mccormick center under construction

Posted at 08:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

when richard nickel meticulously documented the construction of mccormick place in the summer of 1969, he only printed a limited number of large photographs that would i periodically see in various collections and exhibits. when i ran across one this past week, i decided to dig...

22 Aug bldg. 51 museum’s collection of 19th century electric sockets and incandscent light bulbs from historic chicago buildings

Posted at 15:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

bldg. 51 museum's collection of early electric sockets and fixtures. morris selz house (1883): this unrestored morris selz house (1883) three-arm tubular brass wall sconce is quite possibly the earliest known surviving light fixture from an adler and sullivan commission. remarkably, two of the three edison sockets...

22 Aug george h. edbrooke’s willoughby building (1887) as documented by richard nickel before it death in 1964

Posted at 14:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

richard nickel documented george h. edbrooke's willoughby building (1887) shortly before it was demolished by harvey wrecking in 1964. the 9-story building was built for charles l. willoughby in 1887 at the northwest corner of franklin and jackson. ...

22 Aug latest rare and seldom found 19th and early 20th century building trade catalogs acquired by the bldg. 51 museum archive

Posted at 01:52h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

several important and seldom found building trade product catalogs, ranging from the late 19th century to the early 20th, have been painstakingly digitized and added to the bldg. 51 architectural artifact archive over the first half of 2022. the majority of the catalogs, brochures, building...

17 Aug urban remains newsletters pre-dating website recently found and digitized over the weekend

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

old (and rather primitive) newsletters dating from the early years of urban remains to the launch of the website blog in 2013, were recently found and digitized this past weekend. the newsletter "snapshots" are provided below in chronological order. ...

15 Aug richard nickel photographic survey of adler and sullivan’s oddball herman braunstein building (1894)

Posted at 19:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the oddball. richard nickel documented adler and sullivan's herman braunstein building or flats (1894) shortly before it was demolished around 1965. the building's facade was no doubt designed by...

10 Aug chicago building terra cotta, books and blueprints, fisk power plant ironwork, and door hardware added to showroom in august

Posted at 15:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of JUly, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

08 Aug digitization of weary and alford-designed noel state bank building blueprints, drawings, and contracts underway

Posted at 18:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the bldg. 51 museum archive has finally begun the long and arduous process of digitizing any and all blueprints, photographic images, contracts, and shop drawings of the noel state bank (1919) designed by the architectural firm of weary and alford. the largely intact archive was salvaged...

08 Aug important john edelmann-designed residential carved wood building ornament joins bldg. 51 musuem archive

Posted at 17:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the bldg. 51 chicago building artifact museum just acquired an early john edelmann-designed hand carved walnut wood interior residential door surround block salvaged in 1959-60 from the levi strauss house (1860s, 1880 remodel). interior ornament - all designed by john edelmann during the 1880 remodel...

06 Aug photographic images of richard nickel: id student, photographer, architectural historian, and building salvager

Posted at 13:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

images of richard nickel taken from the time he was an ID student to weeks before he was tragically killed salvaging ornament. ...

03 Aug revisiting adler and sullivan’s 1891 wainwright building during 2022 st. louis field trip

Posted at 15:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

detailed exterior photogrpahic survey of adler and sullivan's wainwright building (1891) taken over two days on recent st. louis field trip in june of 2022. ...

01 Aug digitation of bldg. 51 archive’s odin j. oyen collection to be completed by end of 2022

Posted at 20:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the bldg. 51 archvie, which houses the largest repository of 2d and 3d materials pertaining to the life and work of odin j. oyen - a la crosse-based late 19th and early 20th century artist and interior decorator - will be completely digitized by the...

28 Jul frank lloyd wright-designed waller apartments terra cotta ornament (1896) revisited

Posted at 16:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the cleaned/not cleaned buff-colored spandrels and roofline terra cotta was executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills. wright used the distinctive oversized bead or ball cornice blocks for both waller (1896) and the non-extant francisco terrace apartments (1895-1974), located just north of waller...

27 Jul discovery of forgotten photo negatives found in attic of 1870’s cottage show its façade and surrounding neighborhood at turn of century

Posted at 06:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the wrecking machine is immobile for a moment, but research on this cottage remains active, as i repeatedly visit to explore and document the house's framework -- bedecked with pegged and notched sill plates, rough-sawn white pine "sticks," and so on. both the interior and exterior have been altered so...