BLDG51. News and Events |

06 May remarkable gantry crane sign and oversized complete open-ended switchboard salvaged from finkl foundry

Posted at 09:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

last night i finished editing images of two incredible artifacts carefully removed the a. finkl & sons foundry. both depression-era artifacts join the ever-growing number of antique american industrial objects and furniture being salvaged from this notable sprawling chicago industrial complex. before being taken down and brought...

04 May demolition of notable a. finkl & sons chicago foundry moving at brisk pace

Posted at 17:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

urban remains has been spending an increasing amount of time salvaging anything and everything of interest as demolition of the a. finkl & sons sprawling foundry complex has intensified over the past two weeks. the next few posts will cover the salvage efforts, along with...

29 Apr harvesting historic building materials from yet another 19th century wood-framed house demolition

Posted at 01:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

i'm am so utterly exhausted from keeping up with documenting the alarming rate of inner-city demolitions happening week after week, despite redefining my eligibility parameters for seeking study materials from 19th century wood-framed chicago houses within my study period. extracting samples of wood lath, segments of joists and studs,...

28 Apr eric j. nordstrom’s old american factory sign collection

Posted at 17:51h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the gallery below represents one of my many sub-collections with a focus on early american signs (both vitreous or porcelain and baked-on enameled) that would be found in factory settings dotting the urban landscape. i selected these signs based on their subject matter, characteristic surface wear, rarity...

28 Apr it’s virtually impossible to go a single day without purchasing for urban remains

Posted at 16:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired 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 23,100 item mark. the...

28 Apr eric j. nordstrom: the chicago “privy vault” scavenger

Posted at 12:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

in preparation for my next book, "unearthing chicago," i'm going after 19th century privy pits with a vengeance! this will include renting machinery to excavate areas of chicago where i have been given permission to dig. this may seem a little extreme, but salvaging a...

27 Apr pemit issued for demolition of the last original wabash elevated station

Posted at 14:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the fate of the last original elevated "l" station on wabash avenue has been officially sealed when the city issued a demolition permit for the late 19th century palladian-designed structure. i very much hope to work with the wrecker to not only document (onsite) the station's...

22 Apr another modest pre-fire chicago boarding house hiding in plain sight demolished

Posted at 09:53h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

i had my eye on this little 19th century two-story gable or hipped wooden frame chicago cottage for weeks after i discovered that a demolition permit was pulled to obliterate it in preparation for a new residential development. after looking it over time and again, i...

21 Apr hodgepodge of several oddities, lighting and industrial furniture added this week

Posted at 14:53h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

17 Apr another pre-fire chicago residence identified during its demolition

Posted at 12:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

salvage operation in progress: more to follow...

17 Apr a very small sign associated with an incredibly huge historically important wheel

Posted at 10:29h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

very unique and primitive late 19th century single-sided exterior "foreman" occupational sign purportedly salvaged from the temporary and/or mobile construction office or shack housing the general contractors involved in the construction of the chicago world's fair of 1893 (more commonly referred to as the world's...

15 Apr a closer look at “chicago method” sill plate joinery among 19th century chicago wood frame houses

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

i've been spending the past couple of weeks visiting the sites of 19th century wood frame structures undergoing demolition. nearly all of these houses have been ravaged time and again with cobbled alterations to the point where any traces revealing visual cues of age, lie...

14 Apr revisiting privy “vault” and ash pit assemblages from the “unearthing chicago” series

Posted at 17:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the image gallery below provides several collections of 19th and early 20th century fragments and bottles unearthed from various demolition and/or dig sites in the city of chicago. from wolf's point to the wood-lined privy "vault" discovered at the john kent russell house (1855) and everything in between, the...

14 Apr remnants of a pre-fire chicago german high school collected during its demolition

Posted at 17:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

i have yet to post concluding remarks on the final days of the gethsamane missionary baptist church's demolition. i'm so incredibly behind on posting about my involvement in this seemingly endless demolition craze because i'm either out the door at a moment's notice to document yet another...

08 Apr historically important interior chrysler building pendant fixtue lastest addition to bldg. 51 museum

Posted at 09:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the bldg. 51 museum, consisting of a curated election of historically important american architectural artifacts, is proud to announce its latest acquisition: an original interior art deco style multi-faceted glass paneled electric pendant light removed long ago from the chrysler building. after a phone call discussing provenance...

03 Apr a. finkl & sons foundry: salvaging a sprawling industrial wasteland

Posted at 00:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

urban remains is in the final stages of salvaging the a. finkl & sons foundry complex of mind-boggling proportions. this first set of images (shown below) were taken by owner eric j. nordstrom during the initial tour of the entire complex as it sat, frozen in...

01 Apr 500 north milwaukee: going, going, gone.

Posted at 16:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the following images represent a hastily assembled visual overview of the rapid disappearance of the conglomeration of gray-painted brick buildings constructed on a triangular-shaped lot during the latter half of the 19th century. as of this writing, the last of the buildings has been reduced to...

30 Mar Clarke House Museum > Upcoming Events > FREE LECTURE: Unearthing Chicago

Posted at 11:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

on tuesday night i will be giving a talk revolving around the discovery of privy pits or "vaults" with an emphasis on what was found at the john kent russell house site, long after the salvage and/or demolition of the house was completed. based on the recovery...

27 Mar matching set of early 20th century darwin d. martin sconces recently added to bldg. 51 museum

Posted at 17:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

weeks after the auction concluded, the highly anticipated arrival of two historically important early 20th century darwin d. martin interior residential sconces is now over. both the patinated bronze sconces and bulbous white opalescent glass globes (likely original) arrived in safe and sound condition earlier...

26 Mar the great chicago fire exhbit at the chicago history museum is a worthwhile visit

Posted at 12:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

every now and then i visit the chicago history museum for inspiration when it comes time to begin work on a book, create an exhibition at the bldg. 51 museum or prepare for a lecture on any and all topics relating to 19th century chicago architecture. the...