john vinci personal kodachrome slides (digitized by the bldg. 51 archive) chronicling his restoration work on louis h. sullivan's schlesinger and meyer department store (1899) from the late 1970's, shortly after vinci and partner larry kenny rebuilt adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange trading room...
after several months of an intensive collaboration - between eric j. nordstrom of bldg. 51 and tigerman mccurry art and architecture archivist nathaniel parks of the ryerson and burnham archives - spent gathering ephemera and artifacts chronicling the recovery and reconstruction of adler and sullivan's...
two richly ornamented and historically important architectural fragments from adler and sullivan buildings are the latest additions to the rapidly-expanding bldg. 51 archive and museum. the first piece, executed by james legge and cast in plaster, was salvaged from the 10th floor hotel dining room...
latest photographic images from ongoing restoration of howells and hood's bedford limestone tribune tower (1925) and cornerstone extraction of incised limestone cornerstone with time capsule from jarvis hunt's printing plant (1929). the majority of the images focus on capturing tradesmen restoring the tower's bedford limestone...
a selection of images of 19th and early 20th century exterior residential prairie school architecture located in and around oak park, river forest and riverside. the majority of the images from this ongoing study focus on the ornamentation designed by notable chicago architects william drummond,...
[caption id="attachment_36362" align="alignleft" width="1500"] detail of chicago stock exchange trading room main truss stencil and monogrammed plaster discovered shortly after the false ceilings were removed by john vinci, richard nickel, and others assigned to dismantle ornament from the room. note the dust-covered mazda light bulbs...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 50,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
looking over newspapers on the guaranty building, i discovered plans that announced (january, 1951) to do away with the original open-cage sullivan-designed elevator enclosures within the guaranty building (adler & sullivan, architects, 1896). the "modernization" would cost 20,000, which included new otis elevator cabs ordered to...
after well over three years, i've finally begun the arduous task of editing hundreds of photographic images documenting the recreation and installation of henry ives cobb's chicago athletic association building's (1893) gothic style cast plaster "drooping tip" illuminated ceiling, located in the building's great dining...
i'll be spending the next several months documenting (off-and-on) 19th century residential structures in and around wicker park with an emphasis on workers cottages. an exhaustive photographic survey of these structures offered in condensed format (e.g., book, archive, etc.) is long overdue, espeically in light...
the following images were selected from hundreds of photographs systemically documenting the long-overlooked a.d. german warehouse designed in 1914 by frank lloyd wright. located in richland center, wisc., the warehouse was the only building wright ever designed in the town he was born. the warehouse...
while making a futile attempt to further organize my photographic images of american architecture taken in 2016, i ran across several folders that were either mislabeled, simply "shelved," or forgotten about. some of the folders had content i found compelling enough to carve out time...
2019 has been an incredibly fruitful year in terms of ephemera, book, and artifact acquisition - based upon what the bldg. 51 museum archive has already secured, along with arrangements in the works or nearing finalization. the ever-growing museum archive has reached a critical mass,...
urban remains and bldg. 51 museum owner eric j. nordstrom featured in october 2019 issue of sophisticated living magazine. magazine link: https://lsc-pagepro.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=619240&p=&pn=#{%22issue_id%22:619240,%22page%22:92} further reading: THE URBAN ARCHAEOLOGIST URBAN REMAINS FEATURED IN PLAYBOY MAGAZINE IN 2011...
the following collection of images - coupled with brief descriptions, were taken from a larger photographic essay (a work in progress) on the demolition of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894). the images are being digitized from nickel's contact sheets for the time-being. richard...
among the bldg. 51 museum archive's latest addition is an original frank lloyd wright-designed buff-colored terra cotta exterior robert roloson rowhouse (1894) baluster salvaged when the front terraces where dismantled/demolished in the early 1970's. most of the surviving balusters exhibit some degree of damage, espeically...
the most recent interior photographic images chronicling the transformation of the s.a. maxwell loft building's upper floors into livable spaces are found below. at this stage, the upper floors are virtually unrecognizable when compared to images taken by richard nickel in the 1960's and myself...
photographic survey (in progress) of sullivan-designed red slip terra cotta spandrel panels, capitals and cornice on wainwright building by adler and sullivan and c.k. ramsey (1891). the 10-story building's terra cotta ornament was fabricated by the winkle terra cotta company (incorporated in 1889), st. louis, mo. i...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 50,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
