down in a hole. i was so delighted when i ran across these riveting images documenting the hand-dug caissons for chicago's civic center (1965) designed by jacques brownson of c. f. murphy associates. the majority of the images were pulled from richard nickel contact sheets dating...
john vinci images documenting the final stages of the senseless destruction of adler and sullivan’s chicago stock exchange (1894), taken in april or early may of 1972. vinci shot the building in black and white and kodachrome, picking up where richard nickel left off before...
the following pieces of ephemera were found by richard nickel while exploring/photographing adler and sullivan's garrick (schiller) theater a few months before atlas arrived to begin wrecking it - likely in the winter months of 1960. demolition of the theater wrapped up in june of...
the pabst building was a 14-story neo-gothic style commercial building (1891) designed by architect s.s. beman as the headquarters for milwaukee beer baron frederick pabst. it was the city’s first skyscraper and the tallest building prior to the completion of milwaukee’s city hall, completed four...
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...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 70,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of FEBRUARY, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if...
examples of early commercial and residential ornamental terra cotta executed by northwestern terra cotta works (true, brunkhorst & co., lake view terra cotta & brick company, and the chicago terra cotta company acquired by urban remains and the bldg. 51 musuem. the majority of the...
the following images and accompanying descriptions highlight the bldg. 51 museum archive's universe of rare out-of-print period architectural and/or building trade catalogs awaiting to be fully scanned and made available on the bldg. 51 website within the next few years. ...
the church and parish house were designed by henry hobson richardson and construction took place from 1872 to 1877, when the complex was consecrated. situated on copley square in back bay, trinity church is the building that established richardson's reputation. it is the birthplace and archetype of the richardsonian romanesque style, characterized...
a largely intact 19th century five-story mixed-use commerical building featuring a unique facade comprised of lightly incised lemont and bedford limestone, will be demolished in the coming weeks. located at 1329 n. clybourn avenue, the victorian-era structure was built in 1884, housing a funeral parlor...
a virtual gallery of carefully sourced and meticulously documented museum-quality 19th and early 20th century ornamental metalwork from historically important american commercial and residential structures housed in the bldg. 51 museum archive. the majority of the ornament, including custom-designed builders' hardware, comes from chicago buildings...
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...
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...
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...
the following objects, culled from various ongoing projects, were selected and assembled as a hodgepodge cohered by the single theme of being utilitarian objects from chicago's past. when we can flesh out the context in which these originally existed, they take on a new meaning...
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...
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...
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...
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...
burnham and root's house for edward e. ayer, a wealthy chicagoan who made his wealth as a supplier of railroad ties. the exterior rubble walls were comprised of split granite boulders. the ironwork was truly remarkable as seen in the hinged gate, massive strap hinges...