BLDG51. News and Events |

23 Oct ongoing excavation efforts at the john kent russell site yields a newly discovered artifact-laden privy

Posted at 15:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

while i patiently wait for the city to issue an excavation permit that will uncover any undiscovered buried remnants from the john kent russell house site before the new foundation is poured, which not only effectively ends my frequent visits to the site, but in...

22 Oct rapp and rapp’s oriental theater was one of two focal points during open house chicago

Posted at 00:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

judging from numerous channels of feedback, it's rather obvious that "open house chicago" this year was a smashing success. i'm very pleased that so many residential and commercial structures opened their doors to the public for observation, appreciation and an endless stream of photographic images...

21 Oct more buildings with “sullivanesque” style midland terra cotta are coming down

Posted at 14:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the small, but visually distinctive single story commercial buildings bedecked with bright white glazed terra cotta "sullivanesque" ornament in numerous configurations on their facades are disappearing more and more from the urban landscape in and around the chicago area as the number of demolition permits...

21 Oct latest update: the ever-changing c. 1876 commercial block undergoes a complete facade removal

Posted at 00:30h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the gallery of images presented in this posting offer the viewer a rather sad glimpse of the most recent round of alterations being made to this heavily altered c. 1876 solidly-constructed commercial block located just west of downtown chicago. earlier posts pertaining to this structure focused...

14 Oct newly created chicago athletic association building “drooping tip” cast plaster ceiling panels ready for installation

Posted at 23:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

i managed to capture the early stages of fabrication and preparation for installation of the "drooping tip" ceiling panels during my visit last week. production of the intricately detailed and well made faithful reproductions (taken awhile back from a mold of an original surviving panel)...

14 Oct diverse array of newly acquired artifacts added daily on the urban remains website

Posted at 14:27h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the urban remains virtual store's engine continuously operates as more and more artifacts, objects and oddities are added on a daily basis. with the recent spike in teardowns around the chicago area, architectural artifacts are finally becoming front and center again. however, cataloged items outside...

08 Oct why hasn’t anyone taken a stab at writing about “unearthing chicago?”

Posted at 17:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

i discovered the book "unearthing gotham" in 2002, and have read and later reexamined various chapters of this remarkable and highly informative tomb well into 2014 - especially when we began finding ash pits and privies buried beneath the john kent russell house (1855-56). i can't...

08 Oct a photographic summation of an 1876 chicago commercial building

Posted at 12:03h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

a few photographs taken while examining the interior of this post-fire chicago (1876) commercial building is "gutted" during preparation for a new use as loft apartments. ...

06 Oct sunday spent examining 19th century building materials and privy pit finds

Posted at 17:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the greater part of sunday was spent gathering wood samples from building sites and digging privy pits. by the time i gathered all of the materials and brought them back to the shop, i should have went home and rested. instead, i pushed on...

03 Oct excavating the john kent russell site has spawned a new collection consisting of 19th century bottles

Posted at 11:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

after spending weeks sporadically visiting the site where the pre-fire john kent russell frame house once stood, we have collected hundreds of fragments found in privies and ash pits. we have gathered enough material left behind to further understand living conditions of working class families that...

01 Oct recovering the remnants of a post-chicago fire walnut wood staircase with an exceptional octagonal newel post

Posted at 01:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

it appears after repeated (failed) attempts to reach out and connect with the contractor, i'm embarrassingly relegated back to the dumpster behind the commercial building constructed in 1876 (see earlier posts on this building). it's abundantly clear that money and/or avoiding crossing paths with the construction...

30 Sep michael reese hospital reduced to a small collection of fragments

Posted at 15:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

reese was bitter from the beginning. nearly 30 buildings being vacated, or had been abandoned for years. an awful salvage experience were everything that could go wrong, went wrong. my relationship with the wrecker i had worked with for years grew tumultuous. it was hard to...

28 Sep mid-1870’s commercial building undergoing a complete gut/rehab

Posted at 23:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

i've been watching this post-fire chicago commercial building located on west of downtown chicago for the past few weeks. in fact, i spent an afternoon (with consent from the contractor) photodocmenting the interior from the basement to the top floor. the building is in an ideal...

28 Sep several 19th century “ash pits” found at the john kent russell house site

Posted at 13:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

multiple "ash pits" were recently discovered (in addition to the documented brick-lined privies) on the site of the former john kent russell house as we continue to excavate before the "earth movers" roll in to finally eradicate any and all remains left by the former...

22 Sep the beauty is in the details: the long forgotten lakeshore athletic club nautical-themed tiles

Posted at 16:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the historically important 19-story towering beax-arts style lakeshore athletic club building was designed by renowned chicago architect jarvis hunt in 1927. the extant chicago landmark is located on a prominent corner along the shores of lake michigan. the interior boasted a gargantuan marble-clad lobby, with ornamented...

17 Sep documenting the odin j. oyen firm’s architectural renderings is well underway

Posted at 01:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

within an hour after arriving home from my buying trip in wisconsin late in the evening, i decided to push ahead and not only completely unload the haul, but proceeded to fire up the studio strobes and begin shooting selected renderings i really felt deserved...

16 Sep the odin j. oyen sign and interior decorating firm “collection” is now in the hands of the bldg. 51 museum

Posted at 13:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

after waiting very patiently for nearly 16 years, the opportunity to secure the odin j. oyen design firm's "collection" of art, artifacts and personal belongings (that were formerly tucked away and undocumented) has become a reality, thanks to thoughtful and sympathetic negotiations. there are several thousand...

11 Sep What Did Chicago Look Like Before the Great Fire?

Posted at 17:32h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

This 1868 pocket map of Chicago shows the city in full-blown expansion, a mere 3 years before the infamous blaze By Esri , Natasha Geiling Rufus Blanchard, a Chicago map publisher whose business flourished in the late-18th century, made this 1868 map of Chicago as part of a guidebook called...

10 Sep a quick friday afternoon visit to the chicago athletic association building

Posted at 01:36h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

slowly but surely, any and all historic or architectural detailing original to the time of the chicago athletic association building's construction (1893), is carefully being reinstalled after a seemingly minor restoration and/or repair was completed months ago. remarkably, the second floor "reading room," with its gargantuan...

10 Sep louis h. sullivan-designed cyrus mccormick grille restoration completed

Posted at 00:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i was pleasantly surprised to learn that the original bronze plating was largely intact under a botched restoration or rather, a unsympathetic and careless remuddling applied to the louis h. sulllivan-designed cyrus mccormick radiator grille's surface over 30 years ago. i knew when i purchased the...