visiting milwaukee over the weekend was brief, but productive nonetheless. in addition to visiting familiar haunts, i decided to take some time to photograph the vibrantly colored 19th century masonry, or "cream city" brick structures. these containing upper facade commercial false fronts, or "boomtown" cornices...
my participation in yesterday's auction proved to be successful when i managed to secure a historically important, frank lloyd wright leaded art glass window designed for the arthur heurtley house (1902). remarkably the strongly geometric art glass window was free from damage and unlike most...
this was the first job site where i was unable to document the demolition of a late 19th century chicago two story wood-framed residence. it contained both old growth notched timber sills and girts with mortise and tenon joinery. in my place, i sent my...
late last week i was bombarded with several 19th century chicago soda and ale bottles sourced from auctions, fellow bottle enthusiasts and privy pits. a few will go into my personal collection of historically important 19th century bottles with the most notable being the cobalt blue glass george lomax...
it was simultaneously exhilarating and a bit surreal to experience this building as our "home" for a day. it was comforting to not have to haul a bunch of gear (with the exception of my ever-present camera), wear a hardhat, deal with extreme temperatures, or travel up and...
between residential and commercial salvages, i'm making an effort to also visit and dig multiple excavation sites that are seemingly popping up all around chicago. digging up these "portals to the past" has provided me the opportunity to collect more data in the form of bottles, fragments, building...
nearly 3 years later, i've completed my work at the chicago athletic association building. documenting the entire process has resulted in a collection of over 10,000 images, several parking tickets, and countless hours of exploring/documenting the exterior and interior of both cobb's building and schmidt,...
i am continually fascinated at how both time and the elements transform otherwise mundane objects or subject matter into visually striking objects of "art." as i continue to explore my archive of digital photography, i came across a folder entitled "streets, signs & surface," containing thousands...
--combing through tens of thousands of images taken over 15 years ago when i switched to digital photography-- i possess thousands of folders filled with photographs largely revolving around 19th and early 20th century american city architecture. these include images of signage, surfaces, streets, storefronts and anything...
my ever-growing collection of antique american soda bottles and my persistent and/or obsessive privy digging engagements are firmly planted (for better or for worse) in the day-to-day living with my significant other. recently she surprised me with an unbelievably thoughtful "couple activity," in which we visited a glassblowing studio...
i was absolutely delighted to begin the week by acquiring an assortment of original early 20th century cast bronze and brass "bare bulb" industrial incandescent light fixtures salvaged from various new york city subway stations. the subway station fixtures are so incredibly simplistic and visually attractive...
when time permits, i'm moving from one excavation site to another to look for pieces of the past before those "time portals" are once again closed when construction begins. i must admit, i have not "scored" any major privy vaults containing a condensed collection of material...
prior to this demolition, a cluster of similarly built late 19th century brick worker's cottages just west of damen avenue had been largely unaltered since they were constructed around 1885-1890. unfortunately, one of the closely-shaped houses was brought down earlier this week, leaving a gaping hole that...
i've managed to gather well over a hundred rare and richly colored soda and/or mineral water bottles dating to the mid-19th century over the past month. since the rapidity of bottle acquisition has made it incredibly difficult to populate the urban remains website with these great finds,...
the assemblage of photographic images shown in the gallery below offer a glimpse of my most recent visit (two consecutive days of shooting) to the notable a. finkl & sons chicago foundry that is rapidly being taken apart and discarded by several on-site excavators operated by...
i have a feeling oddball movie director david lynch would find inspiration at this overwhelmingly desolate and gloomy demolition job site, that once was home to one of the largest foundries in the chicago area. the thick overcast blanket prevented the sun from making an appearance...
the mounted albumen print features the non-extant telegraph block building, located in thomaston, maine. the 1865 photographic print clearly depicts multiple businesses represented in part, by the variety of exterior hanging trade signs, which took many forms in early america. when education was a privilege and...
the recent removal of a depression era three-phase alternating current gantry crane switchboard, outfitted with an oversized trumball 3-pole knife switch, injected me with newly found inspiration to revisit an otherwise largely dormant interest in acquiring any and all electrical apparatus revolving around building "power plants." i...
the photographic essay below offers a brief glimpse at a day of savaging artifacts during a single afternoon at a chicago area standard oil (of indiana) brick factory building constructed as a distribution and handling center for several decades. the building is set to be demolished...
demolition of the downtown chicago howard johnson inn, constructed in the late 1960's, is nearly complete. in preparation high-rise development that will be constructed on the site (located at the corner of la salle and superior), the wrecker has spent the past few weeks systematically "potholing" the...