i've traveled repeatedly to the city of aurora to thoroughly document george grant elmslie's five commercial buildings with an emphasis placed on the exterior terra cotta ornament he designed for each commission. aurora is home to the largest number of commercial buildings designed by elmslie. the...
shortly after acquiring a sizable amount of creosoted wood street pavers or blocks, several brown brothers vault light artifacts came through our front door last week. all of the documented artifacts were salvaged by a perceptive city contractor who knew i was vigorously seeking out...
the following gallery represents only a fraction of photographic images taken of louis h. sullivan's 1914 merchants' national bank during my trip to iowa, as i forge ahead documenting the ornament of his "jewel boxes" designed and built in small towns across the midwest between...
several historically important interior architectural artifacts from holabird & roche's 1893-94 old colony building were added to the bldg. 51 museum's building ornament archive earlier this week. the most important architectural elements headed to the museum's first chicago school exhibit include an ornamental wrought and...
[caption id="attachment_32077" align="alignleft" width="1500"] the frank lloyd wright-designed waller apartments (located on the west side of chicago) were completed in 1896. a few years prior, wright was working as chief draftsman for the architectural firm of adler & sullivan. in 1893 louis h. sullivan fired...
images from my photographic study of louis h. sullivan's peoples savings bank completed in 1911. located in cedar rapids fall, ia., peoples savings was the second of sullivan's "jewel boxes" built in small towns across the midwest. the bank was the last commission george grant...
i've meticulously digitized, edited, and assorted over 600 images of the garrick theater salvaged operation from countless richard nickel contact sheets held at the ryerson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago. the 2 1/4 inch images chronicling adler and sullivan's garrick theater before, during,...
an 1880s victorian-era two-flat with deeply incised joliet limestone window hoods and original sheet metal cornice, along with a neighboring wood-framed cottage with newer brick facade will be destroyed this week. the cottage was constructed in the 1870's, with a samuel rastall (occupation, printer) residing there...
i haven't documented restoration work at cook county hospital (1914) since late last year. while the majority of the facade remains hidden behind a web of scaffolding covered in a white shroud, the east side of the facade remains exposed with ongoing repair work evident. it's...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 50,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
the bldg. 51 museum archive recently acquired a louis h. sullivan-designed elevator screen electro-plated copper "t-plate" and cast iron header or frieze panel salvaged from the chicago stock exchange building (1893) during its demolition in 1972. the exceptionally hard to find and highly sought after...
terra cotta restoration work being done on holabird and roche's 16-story marquette building. the reddish-brown terra cotta frieze panels with alternating pattern of interlocking anthemions, flowers and scrollwork are located above the large storefront windows. the panels along the east facade have been removed for...
the following gallery of artifacts represent only a small fraction of the bldg. 51 museum archive, which is comprised of thousands of meticulously cataloged (with images and descriptions) objects, ornament, ephemera, and other materials revolving around the first and second chicago schools of architecture. additional...
the latest digitized images from notable 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...
the following images were taken earlier this month, when i was in hyde park documenting late 19th and early 20th century architecture. i haven't followed restoration of the building's dome closely, but will reconsider if and when i make a return trip. the palace of...
i've spent nearly a year now documenting exterior restoration work (i.e., repair and/or replacement of bedford limestone) on howells and hood's tribune tower completed in 1925. i need to see it through, so i'm sure i will be returning time and again throughout 2019. a few...
most recent images selected from my ever-growing photographic survey of carved bedford limestone ornament adorning late 19th and early 20th century chicago homes. for a few years now, i've devoted several afternoons nearly each month, driving around and documenting bedford stone ornament found on residential and...
a collection of blog posts (links listed below) on the destruction of 19th century erie street worker cottages on chicago's rapidly changing near west side. AN INTENSIVE STUDY ON MATERIALS AND METHODS USED IN BUILDING THE CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE PRIVY VAULT WITH SCATTERED REMNANTS UNEARTHED BEHIND A PRE-FIRE CHICAGO...
the first story facade is all that remains of the huron street cottage built around 1887 (as discussed in a previous post below). TWO-STORY 1880'S HURON STREET BRICK CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE WITH JOLIET LIMESTONE WINDOW HOODS SET TO BE DEMOLISHED IN COMING DAYS from a previous...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 50,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...