BLDG51. News and Events |

12 May bldg. 51 museum secures historically important terra cotta from demolished francisco apartments

Posted at 01:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

three sections of nearly identical ornamental terra cotta roofline or coping panels featuring repeating hand-applied balls or spheres joined the bldg. 51 museum building artifact collection. ornament from the early wright-designed apartment complex was salvaged and distributed during demolition in 1973. the pieces acquired by...

04 May more objects of chicago’s past, given context by assigning narratives

Posted at 02:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following post contains another installment of objects, culled from various ongoing projects (both past and present), which were selected and assembled as a "hodgepodge" cohered by the single theme of being largely utilitarian objects from chicago's past. as previously stated, when we can flesh...

03 May william le baron jenney-designed richardsonian romanesque church as the church of the redeemer

Posted at 18:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

immersing myself in ornament is highly therapeutic - a portal to the past where i belong. william le baron jenney-designed richardsonian romanesque church built as the second universalist society as the church of the redeemer. completed in 1885-1886. the richly ornamented unglazed terra cotta was...

03 May historically important chicago machinery exchange building destroyed

Posted at 03:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the 3-story 1910 chicago machinery exchange warehouse - designed by d.h. burnham & company - has been reduced to rubble. it truly amazes me that a richly ornamented and well-maintained building designed by daniel burnham's firm has been destroyed with little resistance. despite overextending myself...

30 Apr bldg. 51 museum acquires drummond-designed avery coonley remodel playhouse leaded glass windows

Posted at 21:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the bldg. 51 museum recently secured through auction a pair of original and amazingly intact 1918-1919 william e. drummond-designed interior residential leaded glass windows accentuated with richly colored and festive flashed glass rectangles and squares. the strongly geometric windows were likely fabricated by the linden glass...

29 Apr restoration work on 1927 jewelers building exterior terra cotta work resumes as spring arrives

Posted at 17:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

exterior restoration work has resumed on the jewelers building (1927). the northeast turret - one of four used to conceal water tanks for fire suppression - is completely shrouded for repair. several rope border panels under the oversized corbels have been extracted - they will likely...

27 Apr 825-855 w adams two-story commercial building with white-glazed terra cotta undergoing demolition

Posted at 17:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

an early 20th century factory with white glazed terra cotta (possibly fabricated by the midland terra cotta company) located at 825-855 w. adams is undergoing demolition. thanks to moshe tamssot for bringing this to my attention. i photographed the exterior a few weeks ago, but looking...

25 Apr 19th century three-story residence on dickens issued demolition permit

Posted at 04:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

a demolition permit has been issued for a 19th century 3-story masonry residential building with joliet limestone window hoods. the well-maintained structure is located at 530 w. dickens ave. any and all tenants have moved out. i didn't have a great deal of time to make...

24 Apr latest salvage chicago architectural acquisitions now available through urban remains online catalog

Posted at 22:36h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

the following 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 35,500 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...

24 Apr back-to-back chicago apartment building demolition on west belmont

Posted at 16:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

two early 20th century chicago apartment buildings adorned with bedford limestone are set to be demolished this week or possibly next. the power has been cut and the interior salvaged to some degree. the two buildings are located at 450-454 w. belmont avenue. ...

23 Apr massive 19th century chicago “night scavenger” dumpsite unearthed in west town

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

according to 19th century chicago public health reports, periodicals (e.g., the sanitarian), and city ordinances, it was rather common for licensed "night scavengers" to dump refuse collected from residential privy pits or "vaults" into vacant lots. i've discovered several of these dumps over the past 3...

17 Apr post-fire chicago italianate on orchard street reduced to rubble

Posted at 21:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the 1870's post-fire italianate style rowhouse with original bracketed wood cornice and artificial stone window hoods with centrally located keystones, has been reduced to rubble. as of this writing, the concrete foundation for its replacement has been poured. by spring's end, the new...

16 Apr a collaboration between the bldg. 51 archive and chicago art institute’s ryerson & burnham archive

Posted at 21:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by Eric

inspired by spending the past several months organizing and digitizing images and artifacts belonging to chicago architect john vinci, i’ve now begun volunteering one day a week at the ryerson and burnham library archive, where i’m combing through and digitizing images from hundreds of contact sheets...

12 Apr an unexpected tour of south side chicago with tim samuelson and john vinci

Posted at 18:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

images from an unexpected tour of the south side of chicago on a saturday afternoon with tim samuelson and john vinci. buildings will be assigned captions when time permits. images from unexpected tour...

11 Apr downtown chicago from tribune tower in 1933

Posted at 04:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

group of images taken from the tribune building on 11-12-1933. unidentified photographer. silver gelatin photos with ink crop markings were cut from a kodak velox contact sheet with notes on verso. images courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum archive. ...

09 Apr latest digitized kodachrome slides from the john vinci archive

Posted at 02:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

[caption id="attachment_36637" align="alignleft" width="2807"] 1961 richard nickel kodachrome slide of john vinci working on stencil recovery from adler & sullivan's garrick theater. under crombie taylor's direction, wall sections from garrick theater - then under demolition - were cut out and brought back to taylor's home...

06 Apr the death of a south side chicago comed substation is on the horizon

Posted at 18:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

a permit to demolish the southside chicago comed substation (1924) - located at 6141 s. prairie ave - was received on 3-14-2018. i've included additional images of the building's interior and cast iron and limestone ornament designed by herman v. von volst. the building's architect is...

04 Apr bldg. 51 musuem acquires historically important terra cotta from three adler & sullivan buildings

Posted at 02:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

taking on more projects when already burned out beyond belief takes its toll - both physically and mentally. however, i've mastered the ability to ignore the warning signs (again and again) when situations arise where i know i need to act - whether its documenting...

31 Mar post-fire italianate rowhouse on orchard on its way out

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

update from a previous post documenting the death of 2252 n. orchard - an 1870's post-fire italianate with original bracketed wood cornice and artificial stone window hoods with centrally located keystones. i have never worked with this wrecker so i'm on the sidelines documenting the carnage....

28 Mar latest installment of digitized images from the bldg. 51 museum archive

Posted at 21:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the following collection of historically important photographic images - now digitized and added to the ever-growing bldg. 51 museum online archive - reflects ongoing efforts to completely digitize the archives of architect john vinci and historian tim samuelson - who together, hold a massive repository...