BLDG51. News and Events |

12 Dec bdg. 51 museum secures historically important oversized lincoln memorial building (1909) hand-applied polychromatic glazed terra cotta panel sculpted by kristian schneider

Posted at 15:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

gargantuan salesman sample. bdg. 51 museum secures historically important oversized lincoln memorial building (1909) polychromatic glazed terra cotta panel sculpted by kristian schneider for the american terra cotta company, crystal lake, il. the hand-applied polychromatic glazed terra cotta panel was created as a promotional tool (displayed in...

11 Dec additional images documenting bronze church bell extraction from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896), located at 2028 north richmond street, chicago, il.

Posted at 19:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Salvages by Eric

additional images taken during removal of historically important church bell from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896), located at 2028 north richmond street, chicago, il. the previous blog contains the majority of images and additional information. courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the...

08 Dec historic church bell successfully extracted from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896)

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

sequential photo-documentation of lightly embossed bronze church bell extraction from flizikowski and kaiser's german evangelical lutheran church (1896), located at 2028 north richmond street, chicago, il. the swift removal of the bell - comprised of flanking cast iron a-frame bases or stands, yoke, clapper and bent...

07 Dec interior and exterior images of bruce goff’s sam and ruth van sickle ford house (1949)

Posted at 20:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Travel by Eric

mostly iphone interior and exterior images of bruce goff's sam and ruth van sickle ford house (1949), located at 404 s. edgelawn drive, aurora, il. thanks to sid robinson for the hospitality and lively disucussion as always. the sam and ruth van sickle ford house in aurora,...

03 Dec photographic survey of the churh bell before it’s extraction from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896)

Posted at 17:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

photographic survey of church bell before it's extraction from flizikowski and kaiser's german evangelical lutheran church (1896). the 1896 solid bronze bell is intact - comprised of flanking cast iron a-frame bases or stands, yoke, clapper and bent wood wheel with a single sheave (original rope...

02 Dec flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896) demolition well underway

Posted at 17:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

the destruction of german evangelical lutheran church (1896), located at 2028 north richmond street, chicago, il., is moving at a swift pace, with facade and opposing towers (the north houses the church bell) still standing, but not for long. thankfully,...

30 Nov john kent russell house ornament salvaged by eric j. nordstrom of urban remains on display at art institute of chicago

Posted at 23:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by Eric

it was nice to see architectural ornament salvaged by me land at the art institute. the majority of the images however, doument the reconfigured "fragments of chicago's past exhibit," mounted opposite the hartwell memorial tiffany window (1917) within the skylit henry crown gallery. ...

26 Nov a rare opportunity to carefully document helmet jahn’s postmodern spacetime gridded conference room on top floor of giaver and dinkelberg’s 40-story jewelers building

Posted at 16:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by Eric

spacetime curvature grid. recent photographic survey of helmet jahn's 40th floor conference room, located on the top floor of giaver and dinkelberg's 40-story jewelers building (1927), located at 35 east wacker drive, chicago, il. a future post will feature images and video of the fully functional original...

25 Nov urban remains joins forces with logan square preservation to salvage architectural elements from german evangelical lutheran church (1896) during its demolition

Posted at 16:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

salvage operation in progress. updates with information on church history to follow. image gallery below includes documentation of time capsule eextraction along with exterior and interior images of church during beginning phase of demolition (i.e., the church building itself as adjoining school was demolished last week). the...

21 Nov giaver and dinkelberg-designed jewelers building (1927) lobby ornament detail

Posted at 19:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

detailed photographic survey of giaver and dinkelberg's 1927-28 jewelers building lobby ornament as documented by eric j. nordstrom for building owner prime group. ...

21 Nov 2016 eric j. nordstrom photographic images of building parts in burnham and root’s rookery building “vault”

Posted at 15:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

raw and unedited 2016 images of "the vault" in the basement of burnham and root's rookery building, located at 209 south lasalle street, chicago, il. i can't recall if this was a public exhibit or perhaps a feature of open house chicago. the vault contained bits...

20 Nov as 2025 draws to a close, urban remains remains the last standing “salvage” shop in the chicagoland area

Posted at 17:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by Eric

over the past twenty years i've seen one architectural salvage store after another close for one reason or another. each and every time i receive word that a shop folds, i'm both angry and sad, with the worst being jan's antiques in fulton market....

20 Nov data dump: raw and unedited images of urban remains salvaging d. h. burnham’s 21-story continental and commercial national bank building in 2008

Posted at 17:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

unedited 2008 interior salvage images of d.h. burnham and company's 21-story continental and commercial national bank building (1914), located at 208 south lasalle street, chicago, il. as i continue to stitch together bits and pieces of prior salvage experiences i often fall victim to a dense...

19 Nov data dump: raw and unedited images of congress theater’s 1926 attic as it appeared in winter of 2017

Posted at 19:01h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

raw and unedited images of congress theater's attic, taken in the winter of 2017. the shuttered 2900-seat fridstein and company theater building (1926) is located at 2135 north milwaukee avenue, chicago, il. ...

19 Nov still there, but mostly forgotten: 2025 exterior images of walter burley griffin’s 1908 cornell store and flats

Posted at 18:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

exterior images of walter burley griffin's prairie style limestone and brick cornell store and flats (1908), located at 1230-32 e. 75th street, chicago, il. the cornell store and flats was designed by architect walter burley griffin, that has been vacant since 2014 and is considered an...

18 Nov revisting william phillip doerr’s jeffery theater (1923) lobby as it appeared in 2014

Posted at 19:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

revisting william phillip doerr's jeffery theater (1923) lobby as it appeared in 2014: Historical analysis: AI has likely been used to research and summarize information about the theater's history, architecture, and its impact on the South Shore neighborhood. Entertainment industry analysis: AI is fundamentally changing the live...

18 Nov historically important glass negatives of kristian schneider’s sculpted clay building ornament models for northwestern and american terra cotta companies now digitzed

Posted at 16:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

a collection of original and historially important late 19th and early 20th century 8 x 10 glass plate negatives of seldom seen interior views of both northwestern terra cotta company and the american terra cotta company modeling rooms featuring sullivanesque style building ornament - both...

17 Nov ten years later, i’m still holding the torch: wrecking on wells street in 2015

Posted at 18:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

note: any and all images in this post are raw and unedited and will be left that way. posted on december 14, 2015: as the year comes to a close i look back in amazement at the amount of disruption and damage done by demolitions of late...

17 Nov data dump: raw and mostly unedited images of the john voltz hall demolition and salvage in 2018

Posted at 16:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages, Travel by Eric

raw and unedited demolition images of john voltz hall (1881), located at 800 north wells street, chicago, il. john voltz came to chicago with a wave of germanic immigrants during the 1850's and 1860's. voltz was an entrepreneur and nearly a decade after the great fire...

17 Nov “phoenix rises.” rare photographic prints of downtown chicago’s “burnt district” taken after the great chicago fire of 1871. courtesy of bld. 51 archive.

Posted at 14:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

"phoenix rises." rare photographic prints of downtown chicago's "burnt district" taken after the great chicago fire of 1871. the albumen prints demonstrate how quickly chicago began to rebuild itself after the great conflagration fueled by the extensive use of salvaged building materials (i.e., brick, iron, etc.) ...