15 Jun

Posted at 01:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i was given unfettered access to carefully document and subsequently salvage the 19th century young women's christian association hotel building  (later known as 830 s. michigan avenue hotel) shortly before it was demolished in the winter of 2009.  the seven-story combination red brick and terra cotta hotel located...

09 Jun

Posted at 01:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

richard nickel images of adler & sullivan's martin barbe residence (1884) enlarged from multiple contact prints. nickel documented the surrounding neighborhood (the house was located at 3157 south prairie avenue), the interior and exterior before and after the fire, and salvage efforts to remove ornament before...

09 Jun

Posted at 00:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

in the landscape of contemporary chicago, buildings are rarely moved, and transformations are more likely to involve razing old buildings for new development than changing location. a rare example of a move-- just two years ago -- was when the historic c. 1888 harriet f. rees house...

08 Jun

Posted at 22:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

intensive photographic survey of sullivanesque ornament on claude and starck's baraboo high school (later converted to a civic center in 1979) completed in 1928. the unusually colored mottled glaze or “pulsichrome” terra cotta draws heavily from design elements used on louis sullivan’s peoples savings and loan...

08 Jun

Posted at 03:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

richard nickel images – selected from multiple contact sheets – showing the extraction of louis h. sullivan-designed cast iron spandrel panels from the 5-story rothschild building (1881 ) during its demolition in 1972. additional information and images: albert levy albumen print of d. adler...

01 Jun

Posted at 19:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

images from an exhaustive photographic study (conducted in may of 2021) of merchants national bank building (1912) located in winona, mn. the early 20th century structure is widely considered the largest and most impressive bank buildings designed by purcell, feick, and elmslie. the exterior...

01 Jun

Posted at 19:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

exterior restoration of adler and sullivan's 5-story s.a. maxwell loft building (later known as the jewelers' building) is nearing completion with the installation of recreated sullivan-designed cast stone panels on the building's storefront level load-bearing berlin sandstone piers, which were badly damaged around the turn...

31 May

Posted at 18:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Products by

profusely illustrated "the story of terra cotta" hardbound book published in 1920 by walter geer. only a hundred copies were printed, with very few known to exist. the heavily resourceful 300-plus page book provides in-depth information about the american terra cotta industry and its fabricators. ...

30 May

Posted at 19:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the non-extant frank house was commissioned by successful chicago businessman louis frank with dankmar adler & louis sullivan as architects. in 1884 the house was constructed at 3155 s. michigan avenue. the slim, three story structure was well adapted to maximize residential space while remaining...

19 May

Posted at 06:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the charnley persky house museum is both a historic house museum and headquarters to the society of architectural historians. the charnely is both a pivotal piece of modern architecture and evidence of the creative collaboration between louis sullivan and frank lloyd wright. sullivan rejected the...

19 May

Posted at 02:27h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts by

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 May

Posted at 20:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images highlight important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum archive.  any and all images courtesy of bldg. 51 museum and archive and eric j. nordstrom. all rights reserved. ...

10 May

Posted at 21:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a unique and distinctive collection of historically important metal castings, foundry patterns and plaques were recently acquired by chicago's wagner foundry and its subsidiary, the bronze memorial plaque company. the assemblage is comprised of both interior and exterior metal (e.g., bronze, brass, aluminum, etc.) recast ornament...

10 May

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

the following images - digitized, enlarged, and edited from richard nickel contact sheets housed in the richard nickel committee archive at the ryerson and burnham library, art institute of chicago, were taken by richard nickel of the charles p. kimball house during its demolition in...

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