original exterior terra cotta fragment salvaged by richard nickel in 1967 when he documenting the demolition of adler & sullivan's meyer building or commercial lofts (1892). the 7-story structure was commissioned by the estate of m.a. meyer, a former partner in selz, schwab, & company. ...
the following collection of entries focuses on my 4-year "unearthing chicago" project where i aimed to identify and document what lies beneath our feet. from bottles and bones found in residential privy pits to remnants of chicago's city infrastructure dating back to the mid-19th century, the...
another well-maintained 19th century brick and lemont limestone boarding house located at 1733 n. mohawk will be demolished by the end of the week. the historic structure, erected during chicago's 1880s "building boom," became an instant casualty after developers secured the house and adjacent lot...
rediscovering a 1920's softbound catalog and/or booklet while rearranging my library the other day proved to be both rewarding and informative. after pouring over the images and descriptions time and again, i finally pinpointed the fabricator of the plaster ornament used to "dress" the palace theater's...
a collection of oversized photographic albumen prints of 19th and early 20th century downtown buildings taken by chicago photographer james w. taylor. the mounted prints are from the collection of the ryserson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago and the bldg. 51 museum archive. ...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial 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 AUGUST...
latest images taken of louis sullivan's farmers' and merchants' bank building (1919) located in columbus, wisc. i spent most of my time photo-documenting the side of the building, facing south dickason, where the five-window arcade comprised of lavishly ornamented pale green terra cotta is located. ...
three in-depth essays exploring the pile foundations, structural engineering and exhaustive distribution of salvaged exterior and interior architectural ornament from adler and sullivan's schiller building or garrick theater (1892) demolished in 1961. additional essays covering other facets of the building's history, from the time it...
time spent scanning and editing the early photographic work of richard nickel while he was a student at the institute of design has been a welcome change from enlarging his images documenting the destruction of the garrick, cable, republic, cse, etc. during the 1960's. undated (possibly...
the following gallery of images (59 in total) were culled from the "unearthing chicago" project archive (2014-1017). with over 15,000 images documenting objects found in chicago's subterranean portals to the past, along with meticulously cataloging and photographing these unearthed objects in studio after project completion,...
exterior terra cotta restoration work underway on rapp and rapp's old dearborn bank building (1928). i believe the buff-colored speckled glaze terra cotta ornament was executed by the american terra cotta company, but i need to double check my catalogs. the old dearborn bank building (rapp and...
john vinci kodachrome slides of adler and sullivan's 1895 guaranty building taken a year before the 1974 5-alarm fire that devastated the building's upper six floors. around this time guaranty was likely going to be demolished, but because of jack randall, who offered to be...
urban remains recently acquired one of the largest known collections of original 19th century american victorian-era salvaged chicago majolica figural tiles and fireplace surrounds executed in a multitude of rich color schemes and elaborate designs. examples from this remarkable collection are shown below. images courtesy of...
i'm pretty confident i've now digitized all of john vinci's kodachrome slides of warren's lexington hotel taken shortly before its demolition in 1996 by national wrecking. a few might have carried over from a previous post, but i can finally file this one away. the neoclassical...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial 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 JULY...
peter b. wight (1838–1925) was an american 19th-century architect who practiced in new york city and chicago. wight's work in 1860s and 1870s new york evolved from a decorative, historicist style that paralleled the work of european designers john ruskin and augustus welby northmore pugin. after...
in a previous post, i provided an in depth background on the early edison bergmann socket discovered in the non-extant 1893 columbus building in 1959. here i will revisit that for a moment before introducing a recently acquired socket and fixture salvaged from the adler...
adler and sullivan's auditorium building (1889): note: all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, bldg. 51 archive, ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago and john vinci. ornament and/or artifacts courtesy of the bld. 51 archive and museum. FOR BART SWINDALL. how often does...
the second german evangelical zion church, designed by chicago architect theodore duesing and completed in 1905, has been issued a demolition permit that will likely be released in the coming weeks. the chicago church was built on the northeast corner of ashland and hastings for...
latest photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey is provided below. the architectural ornament is sourced from extant late 19th and early 20th century buildings within chicago's city limits. the majority of the buildings enjoy landmark status, while others are relatively unknown, but are dressed...