the 19th century saw new technologies emerge in all areas of production, including improvements in metallurgical processes that shifted use of materials in all areas of life, from construction to household goods. the bower-barff process is one such development, a method of making iron rust-resistant that...
latest photographic images from eric j. nordstrom and/or bldg. 51 archive's chicago architectural ornament survey (caos) provided below. the ever-expanding photo-documentation project focuses on systematically recording any and all architectural ornament located on historically important 19th and early 20th century extant buildings located in downtown...
grand opening of the urban remains showroom and bldg. 51 musuem is set for mid-november. details, including press release, to follow. latest photos of the gallery (a work in progress) posted below. ...
detailed photogrpahic survey of walter burley griffin's cornell store and flats (1908), located at 1230-32 e. 75th street. the combination commerial and residential structure was was built as an investment property by the estate of paul cornell, a new york lawyer who moved to chicago...
a 19th century two-flat (discussed in a previous post) has been reduced to rubble, but the discovery of an aqua blobtop miller beer bottle (with intact lighting stopper) left in a wall exposed during the final moments of demolition, has made it worthwhile to photo-document...
a collection of photographic images documenting thalia hall's exterior bedford limestone facade, designed by the architectural firm of faber and pagel for john dusek in 1892. several images focus on the oversized tapered keystone, depicting a deeply carved "green man" with stoic expression, surrounded by richly...
the image gallery offers a somewhat comprehensive visual representation of ornamental builders' hardware found in chicago's commerical buildings built between the 1880s to the depression. the majority of the hardware is custom-designed, often by the hand of the leading architect or architectural firm tied to...
the bldg. 51 museum archive recently acquired a large collection of rare and seldom found great chicago fire stereoview cards made and distributed shortly after the fire was extinguished in early october, 1871. several photographers are represented, with hand-written notations on verso. the following gallery...
richard nickel images chronicling the systematic deconstruction of adler and sullivan's terra cotta chicago stock exchange entrance arch during the early stages of the building's demolition in 1972. the louis sullivan-designed buff-colored terra cotta arch was the building's primary entrance facing la salle street. the...
five historically important commercial and residential keystones from the bldg. 51 museum collection. [caption id="attachment_34712" align="alignleft" width="2216"] one of a kind original and intact museum-quality and historically important single ornamental hand carved exterior solid keystone salvaged from a pre-fire chicago german school (later known as the gethsemane...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of october, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need...
adler and sullivan's albert sullivan residence (1892) as it appeared in 1890's, 1956, and 1969. sullivan himself lived there from 1892-1896, followed by his brother albert, who resided there with his family from 1896 to 1905. the house was meticulously deconstructed in 1970 with the intention...
the following images offer a detailed visual documentation of adler and sullivan's auditorium tower (1889). the base is comprised of granite provided by the minnesota granite company (quarried in the vermillion iron ore mines of st. louis county minnesota). additional granite was provided...
the following images represents a small, but representative collection of figural and/or emblematic american architectural artifacts housed in the bldg. 51 musuem. the majority of the architectural elements are comprised of terra cotta and were salvaged in and around chicago. ...
for nearly two decades - if not longer - i've witnessed countless irreplaceable mid-to-late 19th century wood-framed worker cottages targeted for rapid removal and erasure. for the most part every site is the same, where i must carefully and methodically parse through each and every...
terra cotta skyline. the kirchbaum building, located at 6560 n. sheridan rd., was designed in 1922 by the architectural firm of ronneberg, pierce and hauber. the terra cotta city skyline mural is comprised of three recessed panels, beginning with fort dearborn and ending with the wrigley building. ...
the first group of images, taken by richard nickel and harold allen, date to 1965. timothy j. samuelson's kodachromes show the interior as it appeared in 1973. a disastrous fire gutted the building in 2006, leaving the outer bedford limestone walls, supported by steel skeletal...
formal grand opening of the urbans remains showroom and bldg. 51 musuem and archive will likely be pushed back to late october, when tranfer of any and all museum and/or historically important building artifacts are removed from crates and installed. in the meantime, i'm posting...
NEWS | SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 2022 Alice Award for Illustrated Books Winner Announced COURTESY OF FURTHERMORE GRANTS IN PUBLISHING Hudson, NY — Furthermore grants in publishing, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, is pleased to announce the 2022 Alice is awarded to Alphawood Foundation, Chicago, IL for its publication, Reconstructing the...
over 22 years and hundreds of thousands of images later, urban remains et al. trudges on (let's hope). ...