BLDG51. News and Events |

27 Jan several newly acquired artifacts from residential salvages, privy pits and factories added this week

Posted at 13:35h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts 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 21, 900 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

26 Jan demystifying the history behind a two-story wood frame cottage during its demolition

Posted at 19:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

there wasn't anything (i.e., exterior or interior architectural artifacts) worth salvaging from this rather humdrum looking 19th century two-story wood frame cottage during a walk-through days before demolition was to begin. regardless, a few days later i returned and spent the greater part of an...

19 Jan iron-pontiled privy dug bottles, machine bases and electrical devices added to the website this week

Posted at 16:49h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

16 Jan finding benefits in a missed residential salvage opportunity

Posted at 14:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

on the way to inspect two 19th century residences that are facing the backhoe next week, i stumbled across a nearly completed demolition of a two-story brick residence located west of the urban remains warehouse and showroom. after doing a little research, i managed to pinpoint...

14 Jan several more artifacts unearthed at the “big dig” site earlier this week

Posted at 15:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

despite the brutally cold weather, i began the work week at the "big dig" site with the hopes that we would discover a wood-lined privy towards the back of the two remaining (unexcavated) lots. immediately upon arriving at the site, the backhoe operator called me...

13 Jan the two year journey of photographing the chicago athletic association building is drawing to a close

Posted at 23:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

after nearly two years of volunteering my time to photodocument the historic chicago athletic association building (the initial walk through was back in early 2013 when aj capital was closing on the property) during its transformation from a dormant and unoccupied building to its gradual...

12 Jan some of the most recent artifacts added to urban remains website categories

Posted at 01:51h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

10 Jan three 19th century brick-lined privy pits yield very little, but digging will continue on next week

Posted at 23:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

with demolitions currently in a holding pattern, i shifted my focus back on the "big dig" site located on the west side of chicago. despite the fact that i have unearthed several artifacts (e.g., bottles and common household fragments) dating from the 1880's to the...

06 Jan remembering the non-extant matthew uhl rowhouse (1871) through the discovery of a newel post

Posted at 13:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

over the christmas holiday we visited family and friends in my hometown of la crosse wisc. during our stay, and like others past, i managed to find time to photograph the ever-changing urban landscape (including an old train yard) in and around the downtown area. quite...

31 Dec unearthing a former parking lot yields a wealth of artifacts from chicago’s past

Posted at 10:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

beginning last week we were notified of a major excavation where a former parking lot will be redeveloped for condo construction. consisting of several lots, this massive parcel of land once contained multiple brick and wood-framed dwellings, according to sanborn insurance maps dating back to...

31 Dec a “behind the scenes” tour of the henry b. clarke house: chicago’s oldest residence

Posted at 01:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

there is already abundant and easily accessible background information on the henry b. clarke house (1836), one of chicago's earliest extant residential structures-turned museum, so i will avoid the inclusion of details surrounding the history of the house. instead, i will briefly touch upon some of...

30 Dec pontiled bottles tossed from a passing schooner in the early 1850’s discovered at wolf point

Posted at 01:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the focal point of wolf point "part two" moves away from the discovery of several mid-19th century pontiled soda and/or mineral water bottles during excavations in the 1980's, which were retrieved from intact wood-lined privy pits built and later filled by individuals that resided near...

20 Dec a mid-19th century soda bottle discovered during excavations at wolf point; more to follow

Posted at 02:14h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i recently acquired a remarkable cobalt blue iron pontil glass soda bottle that was recovered from a wood-lined privy pit dating to the 1850's. interestingly, the bottle is not native to chicago, although other bottles found where identified as chicago-based lomax and competitor hutchinson, who...

18 Dec “bottled in illinois” has proven to be a very resourceful guide to have on hand when digging privy pits

Posted at 22:31h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Sales and Promotions by Eric

a detailed overview of this incredibly resourceful and gargantuan tome is written below by the authors. since purchasing this book, i have it on hand at every jobsite when the demolition phase has concluded and excavation of the lot begins. that way, i can immediately...

17 Dec demolition of heavily modified 1885 chicago brick worker’s cottage well underway

Posted at 10:06h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

late in the afternoon we arrived at the site of a chicago worker's brick cottage constructed in 1885. the exterior had been substantially altered or remodeled over its lifespan, so there wasn't much to salvage in terms of architectural artifacts - both in terms of...

10 Dec salvaging building materials from an 1870’s chicago two-story worker’s cottage

Posted at 10:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

as a late 1870's two story worker's cottage is rapidly being transformed into a growing pile of splintered old growth wood, i managed to work around the ongoing chaos and extract several intact building components that were used to build this modest 19th century hybrid...

09 Dec newly refinished antique medical cabinets, drafting tables and a mechanical clown added this week

Posted at 14:01h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this 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 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one,...

07 Dec incredibly rare and very important patinated copper frank lloyd wright-designed weed holders go to auction

Posted at 17:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF "WEED" VASES Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 USD IMPORTANT 20TH CENTURY DESIGN 17 DECEMBER 2014 | 2:00 PM EST NEW YORK FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF "WEED" VASES patinated copper 29 1/8 in. (74 cm) high circa 1895-1900 executed by James A. Miller and Brother, Chicago PROVENANCE Cathers & Dembrosky, New York Edgar Smith,...

03 Dec a weekend afternoon visit to the “burnham, sullivan & wright” exhibit at architech’s gallery

Posted at 10:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i feel very fortunate that we had the opportunity last saturday afternoon to attend the last day of architech gallery owner david jameson's "burnham, sullivan & wright" exhibit. almost immediately upon our entry we received a warm greeting and quick overview from david. i happened...

30 Nov a rare glimpse of early odin j. oyen’s drawings before establishing his decorating firm in la crosse, wisc.

Posted at 02:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

as i continue to systematically document an overwhelming amount of drawings, photographs, artifacts and correspondences revolving around notable artisan odin j. oyen, i felt it was important to share multiple drawings i've gathered thus far that not only shed new light on oyen's work during...