01 Feb

Posted at 16:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

new york, a.j. bicknell & co., architectural book publishers, 1873 full sub-title (set in a dazzling array of different typefaces)! "showing a great variety of designs for cornices, brackets, windows, window caps, doors, piazzas, porches, bay and dormer windows, observatories, towers, chimney tops, balconies, canopies, scrolls, gable...

01 Feb

Posted at 08:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

three photographic images taken of louis h. sullivan-designed ornament adorning adler and sullivan buildings by notable photographers aaron siskind and richard nickel in the 1950s for the institute of design photo section project. sadly, only one of the three adler and sullivan commissions remains standing. first...

01 Feb

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

the following five bottles and/or bottle fragments were culled from the bldg. 51 museum "unearthing chicago" project archive based on their captivating narratives. images of the bottles and the links to their forgotten histories are found below.          MID-19TH CENTURY BOTTLES UNEARTHED DURING THE DEMOLITION AND SUBSEQUENT...

26 Jan

Posted at 06:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum recently aquired an original buff-colored ornamental and tapered buff-colored terra cotta column from the otto strack-designed pabst beer pavilion built for the world's columbian exposition of 1893. the pavilion was located in central hall of the fair's agricultural building, designed by...

25 Jan

Posted at 16:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

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...

25 Jan

Posted at 04:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

it is well known that louis sullivan spent the last two decades of his life and career mired in dire poverty. the architect responsible for defining chicago's architectural ethos, and for raising some of the most exceptional skyscrapers would find himself in dismal poverty, reliant...

24 Jan

Posted at 05:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

as demolition of the early 20th century building housing the storied pacific garden mission - more commonly known as the "old lighthouse" - was drawing to a close, a battered and broken floor safe was found in the rubble. the diminutive, baked enameled black safe, with...

18 Jan

Posted at 01:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

some of the most unique artifacts in the bldg. 51 collection (and for sale in the urban remains warehouse) are rescued from non-extant theaters hearkening to the early 20th century theater boom. aside from remarkable light fixtures, seating, decorative plaster and exterior elements from these...

15 Jan

Posted at 15:53h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

photograhic survey of character-defining features found on the exterior of 19th and 20th century buildings located in chicago. architectural details include, but not limited to, datestones, name (includes mongrams) plaques, and emblematic designs identifying the structure's identity, purpose or function. ...

13 Jan

Posted at 17:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

images from ongoing visual survey of the henry j. schlack's designed st. martin of tours abandoned german catholic church (1895) located at 5848 s. princeton avenue in the englewood neighborhood of chicago. the majority of the photographs taken thus far, concentrate on the bedford limestone...

11 Jan

Posted at 22:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

designed by louis h sullivan and/or his junior draftsman, frank lloyd wright, the house was completed in 1892. the rich ornamentation provides abundant fodder for research on the charnley-persky house, sullivan’s work, and groundbreaking work completed during this time. the ornament throughout the interior and...

10 Jan

Posted at 04:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

the destruction last year of the osborne & adams building (erected in 1872) remains a deeply upsetting affair, and one i remember each time i walk past the three gargantuan keystones housed in the bldg. 51 museum collection. the exterior architectural elements were rescued from...

10 Jan

Posted at 03:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

forgotten objects and ephemera found hidden in the crawlspaces, attics, plenums and basements of five depression-era chicago theaters. my "lost and found" project of documenting and discovering what tradesmen and theatergoers left behind or discarded over the decades lasted nearly three years. after collecting and organizing...

04 Jan

Posted at 09:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the ornamental distribution legacy of richard nickel and the garrick theater salvage richard nickel was born and raised in chicago’s humboldt park and logan square neighborhoods and from an early age was deeply moved by stained glass figures. after serving in the army, nickel enrolled...

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