11 May

Posted at 14:01h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

most recent architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive.  highlights include richard nickel's audio-visual equipment used to record preservation hearings, conduct interviews (e.g., frank lloyd wright, elmslie sisters, william g. purcell, etc.), adler and sullivan...

06 May

Posted at 15:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

an early to mid-1880s (research ongoing) multi-story brick worker's cottage punctuated with lemont limestone window hoods with centrally located keystones and bracketed wood cornice was destroyed early last week. i managed to photodocument the facade shortly before it was brought down and trucked off to...

06 May

Posted at 02:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

a photographic study of excavated utilitarian objects and architectural artifacts from chicago's past. four of the images show building ornament, layers of ash, and common brick "in situ". the fragments were discovered at dig sites across the city prior to being lightly cleaned and photographically...

04 May

Posted at 14:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

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 MAY, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need...

02 May

Posted at 04:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

rarely seen richard nickel photographs of burnham and root's kansas city board of trade building (1888) shortly before it was demolished in 1968.  a year before, the building owners terminated maintenance, turned off heat and electricity, and chained the doors shut. thankfully ornamental iron (bower-barff finish) located...

02 May

Posted at 03:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the chicago balloon frame: beyond "boards and nails." over the past three years, i've collected a considerable amount of photographic images and historic building materials housed in a storage facility in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" project, which aims to address an increasing number of anomalies...

02 May

Posted at 01:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

seldom seen richard nickel contact sheet images of burnham and root's george h. wheeler residence (1884) taken shortly before it was set to be demolished in 1968.  the house situated between wheeler and h.h. richardson's extant glessner house (1887) to the north, was cobb and frost's...

01 May

Posted at 02:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

the following collection of lithographs (some rarely seen) offer a comprehensive look at adler & sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894), including its ornament, entrances, and interior spaces.  the images are featured in winslow brother's 1894 issue of "ornamental iron" (volume two, number one) with text...

28 Apr

Posted at 15:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

  the century of progress architectural district is a historic district in beverly shores, indiana. the district is on lake shore drive within the indiana dunes national park. the district comprises five buildings, all from the homes of tomorrow exhibition of the 1933 century of progress world's fair which took place in chicago. intended to display...

27 Apr

Posted at 15:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

photographic images of antioch baptist church (1889-1890) taken during the first of week of demolition. the church had suffered a disastrous fire earlier in the month (good friday) that left the building structurally unsound (weakened further by subsequent fires). with mounting concerns that the building...

26 Apr

Posted at 14:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

photographic study of mabel tainter memorial building (1889-1890) designed by architect harvey ellis. the richardsonian style building, which houses a theater and library, was built for lumber magnate andrew tainter and his wife bertha as a memorial to their daughter mabel tainter, who died of cancer...

25 Apr

Posted at 19:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

a selection of images and artifacts culled from the bldg. 51 museum archive on burnham and roots' rookery building (1888). any and all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 museum archive. early view of rookery building's adam street entrance. inland architect press. courtesy of...

23 Apr

Posted at 04:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the facade of f.a. kennedy and company's rebuilt six-story factory complex was executed by adler and sullivan in 1884. the brick facade featured four divided structural bays with uninterrupted piers expressing the building's vertacality. the cornice was punctuated with a series of arched windows surrounded...

21 Apr

Posted at 19:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

detroit's extant iconic art deco towering fisher building (1928) is one of the most notable works by architect albert kahn (joseph fathaniel french served as architect). the 30-story building - faced with a combination of limestone, granite, and several types of marble - was financed by...

20 Apr

Posted at 14:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several original and amazingly intact louis sulllvian-designed eli b. felsenthal store and flats (1906) terra cotta cornice blocks were acquired by the bldg. 51 musuem collection last week.  while working for landmarks, tim samuelson spent a great deal of time both documenting and rescuing terra cotta...

20 Apr

Posted at 01:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

an intimate look at john root-designed interior ornament for burnham and root's woman's temple (1892). the staircase, electroliers, and open-cage elevator surrounds were executed in cast and wrought iron with bronze electroplated finish by the winslow brothers, chicago, ills.  description of building and its...

19 Apr

Posted at 05:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i've had trouble tracking down exterior images of the mccormick mansion undergoing demolition for quite some time now. i finally found a few taken by richard nickel in 1954 last week. the more widely known interior images with graffiti on the walls were taken by...

16 Apr

Posted at 03:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

with over 500,000 photographic images chronicling the destruction of chicago's 19th and early 20th century commercial and residential structures taken over the 20 past years, i've decided it's long overdue to begin the arduous task of mining the data to create a structured database where...

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