at the surface level, the recent fire at 695 north milwaukee was a devastating blow to the owners of a couple of local restaurants and entertainment companies. however when i dig deeper, it also becomes apparent that this location had a rich past with local...
demolition begins today at 2219 n. dayton. the early to mid-1880's two-flat is amazingly intact, with stamped tin bracketed cornice, marble mantels, and cast plaster ceiling escutcheons. the double door entrance, with centrally located corbel, raised panel jamb, and transoms are all original. the interior...
it never ceases to surprise that the smallest artifacts can hold the most expansive histories. this week a simple object --a brass key ring from the reliance building-- unveiled an iconic narrative from an era when chicago served as territory to some of the most notorious gangsters. even...
if you haven't already, please take the time to visit this adler & sullivan masterpiece, containing an extraordinary level of design complexity and detail, and a variety of building materials treated with a visually stunning polychromatic finish. with a sizable amount of salvaged material carefully documented and removed...
despite being pinned down with so many ongoing projects for the past few years, a place i always make time to document inside and out is the congress theater. nearly a year has passed since i began photographing the logan square landmark. my eager excitement...
i had a single day to salvage what i could from a pre-fire chicago italianate style residence retaining many of the interior elements dating from the time of construction. when i arrived onsite, the excavator had already flattened the garage. soon thereafter, the unmistakable sound of...
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 29,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...
the images contained within this post represent a small fraction of extant early 1880's chicago buildings, dressed with red slip terra cotta ornament designed and fabricated by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills. the majority of the terra cotta documented is "stock" ornament -...
i flew to nyc to document the woolworth building's upper floor condo conversion and exterior ornament restoration, but my adhd continually redirects my efforts toward editing other images of captivating building ornament (e.g., edelmann's dexter bld. facade). i have edited some woolworth, but need to...
original carved oak wood (with early allover crazed paint) and composite fireplace over-mantel header fragment salvaged from the morris selz residence before its demolition in 1967. richard nickel, john vinci, and john norris salvaged the ornament and photo-documented the exterior and interior prior to its destruction....
when i find time, i'm carefully extracting fragments from the piles of "insulation" discovered behind the walls of a pre-chicago fire worker's cottage i salvaged a few days ago. my research strongly indicates that the house was constructed around 1867, possibly earlier. the materials at the very...
although it may be redundant to preface a post pertaining to 19th century chicago cottages with my continued disappointment and despair, i will probably continue to express my lament, as long as there is still a constant stream of exceptional buildings being permanently erased from the urban...
for months now i have been documenting ongoing facade work (i.e., terra cotta repair and/or replacement) on the jewelers' building. the 40-story building was built from 1925 to 1927. the structure was co-designed by architects joachim g. giaver and frederick p. dinkelber (the latter designed...
while i have touched on the importance of photo-documenting salvages, lately my focus has expanded to buildings undergoing historic renovations in chicago’s downtown. a number of facades are worked on each year, with little public attention to the craft and care involved in the restoration...
urban remains received a call last week over the removal of long-forgotten artifacts and building elements buried in the recesses of logan square’s armitage baptist church building as they begin clearing out remnants of its original occupant - the logan square masonic lodge. we spent...
"Lost and Found" will be available for purchase by the end of December 2017. The 58 page, soft-bound booklet scours the depths of the Congress Theater, chronicling the building's history through depression-era artifacts and detritus found in hidden corners of the structure. A full-color catalog...
i wanted to take a moment out of this busy fall period to document the beauty of certain buildings here in chicago that i just find exceptionally appealing; the pittsfield is one of those such places. combining both art deco and gothic influences, the exterior...
urban remains recently secured several pallets worth of american vintage industrial furniture (dating to the 1940's-1950's), removed from the zim manufacturing company factory building. founded in 1919, the zim manufacturing company specialized in the manufacture of automobile specialty tools and gauges, housewares, and other hand tools....
i didn't have much time to shoot congress theater's interior after spending the afternoon out on the facade. before leaving for the day, i decided to lug my camera equipment up to the attic where i could capture additional images of the methods and materials...
the following historically important architectural artifacts (identified below) were acquired by the bldg. 51 museum collection with an understanding that restoration was necessary to undue any and all short-sighted alterations that blurred their intended functionality. fine art restorer mike gruzca mike grucza was brought on board...