02 Apr

Posted at 03:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired two original and largely intact louis sullivan-designed cast plaster proscenium vault "star-pod" panels salvaged from adler & sullivan's garrick theater auditorium during its demolition in early 1961. the condition of the panels vary in addition to the finish, with...

30 Mar

Posted at 21:30h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of MARCH,...

30 Mar

Posted at 09:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

towards the end of the 19th century the building industry began experimenting with aluminum as a decorative ornament, which had only become available through large scale production at beginning in the early 1890's. the first building to incorporate aluminum as a decorative building material in chicago...

29 Mar

Posted at 03:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

below is a descriptive account of the montgomery ward building, paraphrased from the inland architect and news record published in 1901, and describes the many facets of the construction process.  at the time of construction, the montgomery ward building was the tallest in chicago, topping out at nearly 394...

28 Mar

Posted at 18:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

latest images from my ever-growing photographic survey of extant late 19th and early 20th century chicago residential and commercial structures located across chicago. the work focuses on terra cotta ornament adorning the armour institute of technology (1893, patten and fisher, architects), burnham and root’s st....

23 Mar

Posted at 18:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

a well maintained three-flat red brick apartment building punctuated with ornamental floral moif anderson pressed brick, fret-sawn painted pine wood window lunettes and original ornamental cast and wrought iron newel, bracket and pipe railings (flanking stoops and front elevation), were demolished and trucked off to...

22 Mar

Posted at 17:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

  architectural photographer richard nickel’s “polish palazzo” was built as a two-story unpretentious victorian era  masonry building for wilhelm grimm in 1889. grimm operated his bakery (including brick ovens located behind the building) out of the first floor storefront with the second floor being his living...

21 Mar

Posted at 19:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

the following images were taken during a brief visit to la crosse, wisconsin (march, 2021), a small historic city founded in 1848 on the mississippi river, where several surviving 19th century workers cottages, italianate commercial buildings, and chicago prairie school structures contribute to cityscape rich...

16 Mar

Posted at 04:52h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

images of the chicago and northwestern railroad terminal (1911) before and during its demolition in 1984. the station was designed by architects frost and granger and built by the george a. fuller company.  the non-extant beaux arts station's exterior was finished using indiana limestone quarried...

15 Mar

Posted at 23:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several original and well-maintained mounted albumen prints of 19th century chicago taken by photographer james w. taylor were acquired by the bldg. 51 archive in mid-february, 2021. nearly a hundred original albumen prints (including, but not limited to, various sizes, mounting formats and year) by...

14 Mar

Posted at 15:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

chicago board of trade (1930, holabird and root, architects) through images and artifacts culled from the bldg. 51 archive.  chicago board of trade building (1930, holabird & root, architects) featuring 31-foot aluminum statue of ceres, roman goddess of agriculture. the figure was sculpted by artist john...

09 Mar

Posted at 15:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

third and final installment, documenting the death of chicago's second german evangelical zion church, built by chicago architect  theodore duesing in 1905.  sadly, but not suprisingly, nothing was salvaged and/or saved during its demolition. interestingly, the cornerstone didn't have a time capsule. ...

09 Mar

Posted at 12:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

before its rapid transformation, the “fulton street market” of tech giants and restauranteurs was a quintessential part of chicago’s industrial past, a thriving home to the city’s first century as a gritty, blue collar hub, where food distribution and manufacturing boomed. sadly, as preservation becomes...

09 Mar

Posted at 04:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

before it was demolished nearly 10 years ago, the patton and fisher-designed dana hotel (built as the erie apartment building in 1891) was chicago's oldest continuously-running hotel, and one of the oldest extant hotel structures in the city. it was furthermore, a remarkable queen anne style...

09 Mar

Posted at 02:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

richard nickel images documenting the demolition of adler & sullivan's meyer building or commercial lofts (1892). the 7-story structure was commissioned by the estate of m.a. meyer, a former partner in selz, schwab, & company.  the heavily fortified masonry and terra cotta m.a. meyer lofts...

08 Mar

Posted at 03:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by

  This Popular House Style in Chicago is Going Extinct Workers cottages, once a staple of Chicago’s middle-class culture, came to define the character of its residential neighborhoods. Now they’re being demolished in the name of urban development. Can they be saved, or will they slip, one...

03 Mar

Posted at 05:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the chicago heritage committee was formed in 1960 by richard nickel and thomas stauffer shortly after nickel finished documenting the garrick theater. the committee was essentially created to save the garrick theater. the grass-roots organization was the first of its kind devoted to architectural preservation in...

02 Mar

Posted at 15:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images represent a well rounded cross section of historically important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum archive as of february, 2021. a more focused and in-depth blog post, with detailed captions, will highlight some...

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