27 Mar

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

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

Posted at 11:51h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

Steve Johnson CHICAGO TRIBUNEsajohnson​@chicagotribune.com Nathan Leopold's eyeglasses, eyewitness to an infamous murder — and evidence of it. Ann Landers' typewriter, conduit for common-sense advice. Booth One at the Pump Room, marker of status and coddler of scores of celebrity posteriors. The terrific new exhibition "The Secret Lives of...

25 Mar

Posted at 09:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

aside from operating urban remains, a museum and galley, and documenting and salvaging historic structures, i managed to make time here and there for over a year now, devoted to creating and ultimately self-publishing the BLDG. 51 "museum book," which was delivered to me the other...

24 Mar

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

i've been aggressively acquiring architectural artifacts and industrial furniture for most of march, while i patiently await to begin work on two important salvages beginning this spring. i was fortunate and pleasantly surprised that a decent number of important artifacts essentially fell into my lap the...

23 Mar

Posted at 17:53h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

my team and i just completed salvaging a multi-story early 20th century chicago residential masonry building with protruding ornamented tin bay window integrated with a cornice topped with opposed pier caps and voluted roofline ornament. the majority of the building's interior underwent several tasteless renovations during its lifespan,...

18 Mar

Posted at 01:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

i've been told time and again that my efforts to meticulously document 19th chicago building methods and materials is "pioneering" work that is, or will be appreciated by researchers, historians, architects, homeowners, etc. in the future. however, that might be a polite way of saying it isn't...

12 Mar

Posted at 16:36h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the assemblage of wood boards represent a mostly intact mid-19th century early chicago residential "privy vault" pine wood floor that was likely constructed by j.k. russell & company, chicago, il.   the defunct outhouse privy hole or "vault" floor was discovered on the john kent russell house...

09 Mar

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

with the exception of the building itself, the only remaining exterior architectural ornament left undisturbed on the historically important augustus bauer-designed german school, a survivor of the great chicago fire, is a simple, yet elegant hand-carved oversized side entrance keystone featuring a a raised and...

07 Mar

Posted at 22:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

for the past two days i've devoted morning, afternoon and evening obsessively thinking about anything and everything pertaining to an augustus bauer-designed building constructed in 1869. the arrival of souvenir hunters, the police, an alderman, and other, largely unhappy individuals coalescing into a rather unnerving and heavily...

04 Mar

Posted at 10:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

a project manager working for chicago-based heneghan wrecking informed me late last week that two adjoining 19th century multi-story brick commercial buildings located along lake street were undergoing demolition in preparation for future development on the site. when i arrived onsite demolition was in progress, with a large...

03 Mar

Posted at 02:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i just finished shooting several recovered artifacts that were used in the construction of a privy vault and cesspool likely constructed between 1855-1865 for chicago carpenter and millwork company owner john kent russell's house (non-extant).  the first of the two unusually-shaped privy vaults was discovered in...

02 Mar

Posted at 14:26h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

while rearranging our large assortment of interior and exterior artifacts salvaged from the historically important daniel h. burnham-designed reliance building last week, we rediscovered crates filled with matching cast iron hinges, escutcheons, doorknobs, office door mail chutes and window sash pulls. the urban remains's website does offer...

23 Feb

Posted at 06:51h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

since the day i discovered a light blue cobalt glass william h. hutchinson soda or mineral water bottle resting on a thick privy wood floor discovered behind the john kent russell house, i've been buying each and every virtually identical " w.h.h."cobalt bottle as if...

21 Feb

Posted at 13:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a set of rare and historically important interior darwin d. martin house (1903-1905) wall-mount sconces were acquired by the bldg. 51 museum this week. the strongly geometric designed interior single electric light sconces exhibit a mostly uniform surface patina throughout. it is uncertain whether the white...

18 Feb

Posted at 13:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i've removed several interior ornamented cast iron greek corinthian style capitals (located at the topmost region of load-bearing columns), found on the first floor of many high ceiling 19th century loft style commercial buildings or "blocks" dating between the 1860's and 1880's. the great majority...

17 Feb

Posted at 22:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

urban remains has invested a great of time documenting, researching and salvaging at 500 north milwaukee - the site of approximately eleven distinct buildings constructed primarily during the 19th century. despite each building having its own unique identity in terms of architectural style and former...

15 Feb

Posted at 17:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

lately i’ve been incredibly busy. bouncing between concurrent salvages contributes to the chaos of my burgeoning schedule. i'm no doubt overwhelmed with the daunting projects and events i’m committed to, all while prioritizing "on the fly" photo documentation, and subsequent research. it's becoming increasingly difficult...

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