it's always rewarding when you are able to readily demystify antiquated architectural building materials - whether on the jobsite, or discovering manufacturer markings at a later point in time when documenting the extracted components. identifying the maker of key elements (e.g., plumbing, electrical, stonecutter) used during...
with the power cut and fence erected, walter burley griffin's historically important william f. tempel house (commonly referred to as the "solid rock" house) will be destroyed this week. located in winnetka, ills, the reinforced concrete house was erected in 1911 and later remodeled in...
final installment of images documenting the demolition of antioch missonary baptist church (1890, bell and swift, architects). all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom...
seldom seen interior images of architects and engineers surveying wiliam le baron jenney's 1885 home insurance building shortly before its demolition in 1931. the building's interior ornamental ironwork (both wrought and cast and possibly electro-plated) was likely executed by snead & company, louisville, ky. they are...
terra-cotta, the most enduring of all building materials, has been used to a greater or less extent from a high antiquity in continental europe, and in england terra-cotta trimmings were used in building as early as the fifteenth century. in the united states this material...
john vinci kodachromes and contact sheet of burnham and root's union stockyard water/watch tower and surrounding area as it appeared in early to mid-1960s. the water tower observatory and stockyard gate were the first two of many structures built at the yards by burnham and root...
the majority of the images posted here were taken towards the end of april when demolition was well underway. the last installment of images (taken mid-may) will be posted next week. ...
i've slowly begun the arduous task of organizing all of the data i've amassed from years of identifying and deconstructing or extracting components and systems from chicago worker cottages erected prior to the great chicago fire of 1871. unfortunately, the acquisition of materials, recording of...
my most recent visit to louis h. sullivan's farmers and merchants union bank focused on documenting the interior, including the richly colored stained glass windows, executed by louis j. millet, the polychromed drinking fountain, designed by sullivan and executed by the american terra cotta company,...
BENJAMIN LINDAUER RESIDENCE: richard nickel photograph of unglazed terra cotta chimney ornament on benjamin lindauer residence designed by adler and sullivan in 1885. the sullivan-designed ornament was executed by northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills. nickel documented and salvaged the house during its demolition in 1959. image...
in my studio one night recently, i was photographing the latest collection of bottles, chinaware and other debris unearthed from sites along grand avenue, just west of downtown chicago. i was utterly burned out, troubling over moving forward, so i quickly switched gears to set the...
a new west town showroom housing historically important american architectural artifacts and ephermera culled from the collections of urban remains and the bldg. 51 musuem will open in spring of 2022. updates along with detailed mission statement will be posted in coming weeks. address: 1820 w...
most recent architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive. highlights include richard nickel's audio-visual equipment used to record preservation hearings, conduct interviews (e.g., frank lloyd wright, elmslie sisters, william g. purcell, etc.), adler and sullivan...
THIS PROGRAM IS BEING OFFERED IN-PERSON AND ONLINE On the first day of summer, exactly 50 years ago - June 21, 1972 - nearly 200 friends and colleagues of Richard Nickel gathered in the courtyard of Glessner House to pay tribute to the dedicated preservationist and...
an early to mid-1880s (research ongoing) multi-story brick worker's cottage punctuated with lemont limestone window hoods with centrally located keystones and bracketed wood cornice was destroyed early last week. i managed to photodocument the facade shortly before it was brought down and trucked off to...
a photographic study of excavated utilitarian objects and architectural artifacts from chicago's past. four of the images show building ornament, layers of ash, and common brick "in situ". the fragments were discovered at dig sites across the city prior to being lightly cleaned and photographically...
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 MAY, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need...
rarely seen richard nickel photographs of burnham and root's kansas city board of trade building (1888) shortly before it was demolished in 1968. a year before, the building owners terminated maintenance, turned off heat and electricity, and chained the doors shut. thankfully ornamental iron (bower-barff finish) located...
the chicago balloon frame: beyond "boards and nails." over the past three years, i've collected a considerable amount of photographic images and historic building materials housed in a storage facility in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" project, which aims to address an increasing number of anomalies...
seldom seen richard nickel contact sheet images of burnham and root's george h. wheeler residence (1884) taken shortly before it was set to be demolished in 1968. the house situated between wheeler and h.h. richardson's extant glessner house (1887) to the north, was cobb and frost's...