BLDG51. News and Events |

23 Jun several iron-pontiled bottles, sullivanesque terra cotta ornament and industrial furniture

Posted at 10:04h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

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, 400 item...

22 Jun 19th and early 20th century privy-dug chicago bottles most recent addition to bldg. 51 digital library

Posted at 18:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

i've amassed this large collection of antique chicago-based bottles (mainly "soda" or "mineral water") through auctions, excavation sites, privies, and private collectors over the past 8 months. with the "unearthing chicago" book taking shape, i'm scrambling to find many more bottles to fill in many...

17 Jun bldg. 51 revamped to incorporate both archival and consulting services

Posted at 09:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

in the wake of recently completing a publication on my collection, "bldg. 51 museum: a collection of historically important american architectural artifacts," i have decided to make some additions to the virtual bldg. 51 museum in the form of services offered. this will include archival...

16 Jun milwaukee over the weekend: facades, signage and a unique look at sill plate joinery exposed

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

visiting milwaukee over the weekend was brief, but productive nonetheless. in addition to visiting familiar haunts, i decided to take some time to photograph the vibrantly colored 19th century masonry, or "cream city" brick structures. these containing upper facade commercial false fronts, or "boomtown" cornices...

15 Jun brushed steel cabinets, mannequins, builders’ hardware and a carved building cornerstone

Posted at 15:38h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

12 Jun important arthur heurtley house leaded art glass window becomes latest addition to the bldg. 51 museum

Posted at 12:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

my participation in yesterday's auction proved to be successful when i managed to secure a historically important, frank lloyd wright leaded art glass window designed for the arthur heurtley house (1902). remarkably the strongly geometric art glass window was free from damage and unlike most...

10 Jun more late 19th century old growth notched sills and girts salvaged from a two story wood-framed dwelling

Posted at 01:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

this was the first job site where i was unable to document the demolition of a late 19th century chicago two story wood-framed residence. it contained both old growth notched timber sills and girts with mortise and tenon joinery. in my place, i sent my...

08 Jun discovering more pre and post-chicago fire bottles motivates me to complete analysis on the john kent russell privy pit

Posted at 13:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

late last week i was bombarded with several 19th century chicago soda and ale bottles sourced from auctions, fellow bottle enthusiasts and privy pits. a few will go into my personal collection of historically important 19th century bottles with the most notable being the cobalt blue glass george lomax...

08 Jun from the building’s photographer to hotel guest: our stay at the chicago athletic association hotel

Posted at 12:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

it was simultaneously exhilarating and a bit surreal to experience this building as our "home" for a day. it was comforting to not have to haul a bunch of gear (with the exception of my ever-present camera), wear a hardhat, deal with extreme temperatures, or travel up and...

07 Jun industrial gauges, cabinets, signage, and a remarkable simmons library desk recently added this week

Posted at 17:10h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

02 Jun recent finds from chicago dig sites and the remarkable discovery of a second privy vault wood floor

Posted at 17:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

between residential and commercial salvages, i'm making an effort to also visit and dig multiple excavation sites that are seemingly popping up all around chicago. digging up these "portals to the past" has provided me the opportunity to collect more data in the form of bottles, fragments, building...

02 Jun three years later, my work at the chicago athletic association building has drawn to a close

Posted at 12:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts by Eric

nearly 3 years later, i've completed my work at the chicago athletic association building. documenting the entire process has resulted in a collection of over 10,000 images, several parking tickets, and countless hours of exploring/documenting the exterior and interior of both cobb's building and schmidt,...

02 Jun documenting the urban landscape: chicago streets, signs and surfaces up close and personal

Posted at 12:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

i am continually fascinated at how both time and the elements transform otherwise mundane objects or subject matter into visually striking objects of "art." as i continue to explore my archive of digital photography, i came across a folder entitled "streets, signs & surface," containing thousands...

02 Jun a new blog post category will crack the vault of images taken by eric j. nordstrom over the last 15 years

Posted at 12:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

--combing through tens of thousands of images taken over 15 years ago when i switched to digital photography-- i possess thousands of folders filled with photographs largely revolving around 19th and early 20th century american city architecture. these include images of signage, surfaces, streets, storefronts and anything...

01 Jun an evening spent creating glass bottles at a chicago-based glassblowing studio

Posted at 22:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

my ever-growing collection of antique american soda bottles and my persistent and/or obsessive privy digging engagements are firmly planted (for better or for worse) in the day-to-day living with my significant other. recently she surprised me with an unbelievably thoughtful "couple activity," in which we visited a glassblowing studio...

26 May several more newly acquired new york city subway light “bare bulb” fixtures available for purchase

Posted at 13:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

i was absolutely delighted to begin the week by acquiring an assortment of original early 20th century cast bronze and brass "bare bulb" industrial incandescent light fixtures salvaged from various new york city subway stations. the subway station fixtures are so incredibly simplistic and visually attractive...

22 May sporadic digging for upcoming “unearthing chicago” book yields more finds, deeper insights

Posted at 17:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

when time permits, i'm moving from one excavation site to another to look for pieces of the past before those "time portals" are once again closed when construction begins. i must admit, i have not "scored" any major privy vaults containing a condensed collection of material...

22 May late 1880’s red brick rice street chicago worker’s cottage demolished earlier this week

Posted at 17:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

prior to this demolition, a cluster of similarly built late 19th century brick worker's cottages just west of damen avenue had been largely unaltered since they were constructed around 1885-1890. unfortunately, one of the closely-shaped houses was brought down earlier this week, leaving a gaping hole that...

22 May several richly colored rare mid-19th century soda bottles acquired over the past month

Posted at 12:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

i've managed to gather well over a hundred rare and richly colored soda and/or mineral water bottles dating to the mid-19th century over the past month. since the rapidity of bottle acquisition has made it incredibly difficult to populate the urban remains website with these great finds,...

20 May collection of images from this week’s visit to a. finkl & sons foundry undergoing demolition

Posted at 09:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the assemblage of photographic images shown in the gallery below offer a glimpse of my most recent visit (two consecutive days of shooting) to the notable a. finkl & sons chicago foundry that is rapidly being taken apart and discarded by several on-site excavators operated by...