for well over 18 years now, whenever i encountered this remarkable german baroque style mansion, built for joseph b. kalvelage in 1896 by local architect otto strack, i felt a strong sense of unease as i approached the facade with my camera. it certainly didn't help...
this week urban remains acquired multiple swing-out seat lunchroom tables removed long ago from the former farley and loetscher millwork factory founded in 1875 by christian loetscher. located in dubque, ia., the mill was incorporated in 1881 as the farley and loetscher manufacturing company. by 1910 the farley and...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
Deconstructing Early Chicago Saturday October 17 & Sunday October 18, 2015 9:00am-5:00pm Coach House of Glessner House Museum 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616 Free Admission Clarke House Museum and Building 51 Museum will partner to present a special exhibition of early Chicago building fragments and systems on display in the historic...
upon discovering this building i instantly fell in love with and greatly admired the slim and sleek profile of the chicago motor club building, which like the nearby carbide and carbon building by architects holabird and roche (reopened as the hard rock hotel in 2004), was well...
portable fire escapes date back to 18th century england, where in 1784, daniel maseres invented a machine simply called a "fire escape," a device fastened to the window of a building that would enable a person to descend to the street without injury. abraham wivell created an...
prior to visiting this site, i had only seen it in pictures, by way of google street view. despite toggling back and forth between images of the house between 2007-2014 on google's "timeline," it was difficult to ascertain stylistic features or architectural characteristics that would provide better...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
urban remains carries a vast selection of "portable" fairies lighting fixtures spanning from the company's founding in the late 19th century to the 1950's. from patented bracketed wall and ceiling fixtures, to table lamps and shades, we offer some of the very best lighting (in some...
very little remains of a. finkl & sons foundry as demolition draws to a close. the images below were taken a few days ago when i visited the site. even though our work there was completed weeks ago, i had been itching to return and photodocument what,...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
it was surprisingly challenging to put together a collection of images designed to provide the reader with a visual synopsis of all the work that transpired at the chicago athletic club association building over the past few years. with over 10,000 images captured and tucked away on hard...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
every time i entered one of the many mammoth industrial melt, machine or forge "shops" located throughout the sprawling a. finkl & sons chicago foundry complex, i could not help but look up in awe. high above rested remarkably antiquated overhead cranes designed to to move...
pictured below: a very well-maintained example of early steel office furniture in the form of a joseph uhl-designed switchboard operator's adjustable height mobile chair with the highly sought after oxidized copper-plated finish largely intact. identified by period catalogs as "model 511," this remarkable patented pressed, folded and...
with the ten year anniversary of urban remains rapidly approaching, i've taken a considerable amount of time to reflect on where i began and where i'm going. dwelling more on the former for the time-being, i'm looking through hundreds of pictures taken when i first started salvaging...
investigating a near west side chicago site, i discovered some history through researching nineteenth century maps. according to an 1886 e. robinson's atlas (sanborn insurance) map of chicago (lots 14-17), a large parking lot that was recently excavated used to be a huge coal yard surrounded by several...
the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 23, 600 item...
beginning monday, i found myself documenting a dig site where a prototypical late 19th century graystone two-flat (demolished earlier this year) once resided. with the exception of an early 1880's cobalt john a. lomax hutchinson unearthed at the front of the lot, a surprisingly large assortment...
long ago when i studied the chicago world's fair or "columbian exposition" of 1893 i wondered what, if anything, remained from the "white city" long after it was burned down and/or demolished. where did all the statues go? the lamp posts? [gallery columns="4" ids="10798,10799,10794,10795"] like many others,...