the use of indiana limestone — also known as bedford limestone — has been instrumental as a building material for both residential and commercial building since the late 19th century. indiana limestone was primarily quarried in south central indiana, between the cities of bloomington and...
the following images were chosen from my ever-growing photographic survey of extant late 19th and early 20th century chicago residential and commercial structures located across chicago. most, if not all the work, was done on the south side of chicago, with an emphasis on ornament...
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 60,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if...
a collection of historically-important architectural ornament, comprised of sullivan-designed ornament salvaged from adler and sullivan's guaranty building (1896), and an exterior brick wall fragment recovered during demolition of frank lloyd wright's larkin building (1904-1906) during its demolition in 1950, was purchased for the bldg. 51...
images documenting removal of iconic 1950s-era signage from the used ok'd cars dealership located at 846 n. western ave. on the west side of chicago. sadly, the building and surrounding lot will be demolished, but the signs will live on elsewhere. ...
latest digitized images from chicago architect john vinci's collection of kodachrome and/or ektachrome slides and other photographic images/ephemera are presented below. to see previous posts containing images from this ever-growing collection, please click on links under "further reading." captions will be added to the slides as time...
richard nickel images of adler and sullivan’s morris selz residence completed in 1883.. david norris, john vinci, and richard nickel documented/salvaged exterior and interior ornament shortly before the house was demolished in 1967. architectural ornament saved from the selz residence is housed in private collections,...
for over a year, perhaps longer, i've made several visits to adler and sullivan's historic 1881 s.a. maxwell & company five-story lift building to document the installation of "period appropriate" exterior windows in addition recording the transformation of the upper floors (3-5) into rental units....
images documenting 19th and early 20th century architectural buildings and ornament during first of many trips to milwaukee in 2020. my truncated visit prevented me from exploring my areas of interest in a more in-depth and methodical manner, but i can always pick up where...
a demolition permit was issued for jefferson park hospital (1922) late last week. according to building records, the architect was f.o. demoney, who designed a three-story addition made of brick and limestone. the existing building replaced an impressive 19th century victorian mansion, where the hospital was...
1870s two-story red brick chicago workers cottage with distinctive frear's patent "artificial stone" window hoods or headers, accentuated with deeply incised abstract floral motifs, is set to be demolished in the coming weeks. sadly, it's just another reminder that 19th and early 20th century chicago...
unlike last year, where i focused heavily on digitizing and disseminating images and ephemera on a wide range of topics revolving around chicago architecture, i feel reinvigorated to carve out more time to revisit past efforts photographing pockets of well-maintained 19th and early 20th century...
another year has drawn to a close and looking back, the bldg. 51 museum collection managed to secure several historically important architectural fragments, in addition to the evolving archive, consisting of period photographs, books, documents, drawings, blueprints, models, and other related materials that will prove...
for richard nickel, ruth moore, joe benson, john vinci, and david norris. the schiller building virtual archive's images and artifacts courtesy of ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago, john vinci collection and the bldg. 51 archive. EXCAVATION OF ADLER AND SULLIVAN'S SCHILLER BUILDING WOOD PILE FOUNDATION...
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 50,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if...
beginning in the summer of 2019, i began documenting the exterior of howells and hood's tribune tower (1925), shortly after it was announced that the building's bedford limestone exterior would receive extensive restoration, while the interior (with the exception of the ground floor lobby) would...
images of sullivan-designed exterior s.a. maxwell building (1881) cast iron mullions and surrounding spandrels with emphasis on protruding bases accentuated with deeply recessed ferns and leaf spirals. the five-story building's exterior ironwork was likely fabricated by snead or possibly union foundry works. i would really like...
unfortunately, i didn't have the bandwidth to continually document von holst's 40th street commonwealth edison substation, including its demolition, which is all but complete. when i arrived yesterday afternoon, all that remained were slabs of concrete and a partially exposed basement. i was told...
whether being plagued with perpetual burnout or battling time constraints - or both, i was only able to capture a small fraction of 19th and early 20th century chicago cottages destroyed in 2019. i'm posting whatever's easily accessible before i feel the urge to toss...
images of two troubled late 19th century chicago two-story brick houses located on the west side of chicago. the first appears doomed, and the other will be demolished in the coming weeks. amazingly, both buildings retain their well-maintained bracketed cornices comprised of sheet metal (zinc). the...