BLDG51. News and Events |

28 Dec notable 19th and early 20th century chicago commerical building ornament from the bldg. 51 musuem collection

Posted at 17:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

late 19th and early 20th century historically important chicago building architectural ornament housed in the bldg. 51 musuem collection. ...

24 Dec photo-documenting 19th and early 20th century south side chicago architecture revisited

Posted at 15:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest images from my ever-growing photographic survey of extant late 19th and early 20th century chicago residential and commercial structures located across chicago. notable examples of south side chicago architecure recorded in this survey include frank lloyd wright's heller, blossom, and robie houses, burnham and...

24 Dec clinton j. warren’s lexington hotel through images and artifacts

Posted at 04:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the neoclassical style hotel lexington building was designed by chicago architect clinton j. warren in 1891-92. in a four-year span (from 1889 to 1893), warren designed the congress hotel, the leander mccormick apartments, the metropole hotel, the plaza hotel, and the lexington. with the exception...

22 Dec recent acquisitions: late 19th and early 20th century salvaged chicago builders’ hardware

Posted at 17:24h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the following image gallery offers some of latest american architectural builders' hardware aquired over the past month. the salvaged chicago residential and commerical hardware dates to the late 19th and early 20th century. ...

21 Dec documenting a post-fire chicago italianate row house staircase during its deconstruction

Posted at 04:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

around the time i began salvaging a chicago italianate row house constructed shortly after the fire, i was deeply immersed in the book, “the carpenter and joiner, and elements of hand-railing,” written by robert riddell in 1869. the highly technical book discusses the “art” of...

20 Dec chicago architectural ornament survery (CAOS) images from november, 2021

Posted at 17:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

latest photographic images from bldg. 51 archive's chicago architectural ornament survey (caos) are 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 chicago and surrounding...

18 Dec kodachrome images of historic prairie avenue district as it appeared in february of 1968 and may of 1975

Posted at 19:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

visually compelling kodachrome slides of chicago's historic prairie avenue district as it appeared in february of 1968 and may of 1975. the earlier images were possibly taken by richard nickel. the following list of houses are featured in the slides. the keith and wheeler houses...

18 Dec interior remnants salvaged from potter palmer mansion surface decades after it was demolished in 1950

Posted at 00:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

i am thrilled to have finally located and authenticated two heavily carved oak wood staircase railings salvaged from the potter palmer mansion or "castle," designed and built by architects henry ives cobb and charles sumner frost between 1883-1885. the railings were acquired by the bldg....

15 Dec early 1860s cornelius c. hopper italianate style masonry residence destroyed

Posted at 18:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the cornelius c. hopper house (1863) was demolished in a matter of hours late last week. sadly, very little, if anyhting, was salvaged from the exterior and/or interior of the three-story italiante style masonry residence punctuated with unornamented lemont limeston window hoods. the original solid...

14 Dec John Vinci’s “Case for a museum of architecture in Chicago”

Posted at 15:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

john vinci's letter to the editor as it appeared in crain's, december 12th, 2021: The case for a museum of architecture in Chicago The demolition of another pre-fire residence reinforces architect John Vinci's belief that Chicago is in desperate need of a museum of architecture. Getty Crain's recent article...

14 Dec two little-known 1850s-era commercial buildings still standing in downtown chicago

Posted at 15:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

garden city architectural works, furst and bradley, proprietors. 4-story commercial building with original bracketed cornice built around 1858 with addition (to the north) constructed in 1861. architect unknown. henry horner grocery store and wholesale, henry horner, proprietor. the 4-story commercial building with...

09 Dec rare collection of albumen prints featuring notable 19th century near south side mansions

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

a seldom seen collection of original 19th century albumen prints of historically important mansions designed by notable chicago architects. the majority of the images feature houses (many demolished during land clearance) on the near south side, including prairie avenue. original james w. taylor albumen print of...

09 Dec rare late 19th century winkle terra cotta company figural rondel salesman sample joins bldg. 51 archive

Posted at 15:01h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the st. louis-based winkle terra cotta co., with offices in the century bldg. at 9th and olive sts., and works at 5739 manchester ave., was established as the joseph winkle terra cotta works in 1883, located in cheltenham, a suburb of st. louis. in 1889...

07 Dec civil war-era italianate style residence built for cornelius c. hopper faces imminent demolition

Posted at 16:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Salvages by Eric

civil war-era italianate style residence built for cornelius c. hopper in 1863-64 faces imminent demolition. according to period city directories, hooper was secretary of the peoples gas light and coke company. wood or tin ornamental bracketed cornice and rooftop cupola were removed/destroyed long ago. original unornamented...

07 Dec salvaged chicago architectural ornament, builders’ hardware, and other artifacts added in december

Posted at 15:23h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of DECEMBER, 2021, have been...

06 Dec bldg. 51 musuem’s collection of art deco architectural ornament from historically important chicago buildings

Posted at 03:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

historically important art deco style architectural artifacts salvaged from notable chicago buildings erected during the 1920s-1930s. the original ornament - all identified, meticulously documented and photographed is housed in the bldg. 51 museum collection. when time permits, i will provide additional information, identifying the building ornament...

04 Dec the laverty-martindale house: an early pioneer-era “steamboat” italiante style la crosse residence

Posted at 18:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

the laverty-martindale house (1859) house was built for thomas laverty, an english sailor who came to wisconsin in the late 1850s. laverty fought in the civil war, and returned disabled from his service and was unable to complete construction of the house. in 1868, stephen martindale...

01 Dec virtual gallery of louis h. sullivan-designed ornament on extant buildings

Posted at 03:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by Eric

virtual repository of images representing my ongoing project photodocumenting architectural ornament designed by louis h. sullivan on and and all extant building built by the architectural firm of adler and sullivan and/or louis h. sullivan on his own. the majority of the images revolve around...

01 Dec the “white city” lives on through company that contributed to its construction

Posted at 02:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

as covered in a previous blog, the bldg. 51 museum recently collaborated with the decorators supply company to make a limited edition of ornament originally from adler & sullivan’s c. 1889 auditorium theater. in fact the fabricator of these domes is historically important in their...

30 Nov adler and sullivan’s rosenfeld building as it appeared in 1959 shortly before and during its demolition

Posted at 23:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

richard nickel images of adler and sullivan’s levi rosenfeld building undergoing demolition in 1958. with the help of the wreckers (i believe speedway wrecked the building), nickel managed to salvage some of the terra cotta ornament, including the panel being lowered from the building 1958...