hermann v von holst's southside chicago comed substation (also known as the gaitan building, 1924) is still standing, but the degree of deterioration since the last time i visited at the beginning of 2018 is far worse than i expected. moisture penetration deeply embedded...
i haven't seen many richard nickel images of first floor lobby, staircase, and office corridors in adler & sullivan's schiller building (1892) as they appeared shortly before demolition in 1961. seeing the damage from numerous alterations (e.g., littered with a neoclassical treatment despised by sullivan) from...
exceptionally rare early 1930's northwestern terra cotta company portfolio (one of four volumes) consisting of 12 plates devoted to "modern style" terra cotta ornament. the majority of the plates feature designs from notable buildings in chicago (i've included a few examples). while i'm thrilled...
harvard's memorial hall is an excellent example of 1870s high victorian gothic style, characterized by towers and turrets, corbelled and patterned brickwork, gargoyles, patterned shingles, mansard roofs, polychrome color schemes, and carved or pressed brick ornament. the building - considered to be one of the most...
latest photos from my ongoing documentation of howells and hood's chicago tribune tower (completed, 1925) restoration taken in december of 2018 and january of 2019. if i recall correctly (see additional posts below), i began shooting the building in august when the first crews arrived. ...
a closer look at john root's exterior ornament adorning st. gabriel's church (1887). i mainly focused on carved brownstone (cannot recall if the sandstone was quarried in michigan) ornament located on the north and west facades of church. building alterations, including additions (e.g., vestibule and...
trinity evangelical lutheran church sits near the corner of west highland avenue and north 9th street. originally established by german immigrants in 1847, the building, as it stood until may 2018, was designed by architect frederick velguth in german romanesque or gothic revival style. what remains of the...
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 45,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
urban remains recently bought out a large assortment of late 19th and early 20th century plumbing fixtures and parts from a well-established plumbing company that's in the process of closing its doors after nearly a century in business. based in oak park, the company outfitted, replaced,...
i didn't think demolition of these adjoining 19th century rowhouses on webster (documented in an earlier post) would happen so quickly. a bit jarring to say the least. one of the two italianate style houses has been mostly reduced to rubble. the one to the east...
another year has come to a close and looking back, the bldg. 51 museum collection managed to secure several historically important architectural fragments, along with the addition of a rapidly growing archive, consisting of period photographs, books, documents, and other related materials, to compliment the...
two 19th century post fire two-story italianate style brick rowhouses on webster await the wrecking ball. the well-maintained masonry homes are accentuated with seldom seen richly colored enameled minton tiles with visually striking designs. in addition to photographing the facade in great detail, i stepped back...
a trip to milwaukee last weekend led to a much-needed, albeit abbreviated photographic survey of architectural building ornament (primarily terra cotta) adorning three historically significant 19th century buildings i've repeatedly visited for the last 20 years while traveling on my carefully curated "circuit" of structures within the confines of...
as 2018 draws to a close, i culled the urban remains/bldg. 51 blog post archive to create a carefully curated collection of information, images, and acquisitions capping a year of relentless, unforgiving, and exhaustive work. the creation of this ever-expanding american architectural history database - revolving...
highlights: finally, i found an original early 20th century chicago athletic association "cherry circle" profusely illustrated year book, providing seldom seen images of the club's...
photographic survey of interior cast bronze ornament in the lobby of one lasalle street building, completed in 1930. tone lasalle street building was built in 1930 by architects vitzthum & burns – replacing the tacoma building by holabird & roche. the building is located across madison street...
the scope of burnham and root’s 1888 rookery building isn’t something that can be understood in a few visits. with each visit, one leaves with a greater insight, a better understanding and also plagued by a perpetual need to ask for more – more detail,...
i managed to revisit where i left off, documenting the exterior restoration work on the 40-story chicago jewelers building's southwest corner over weekend. i focused on areas where installation of replicated cream-colored glazed terra cotta (executed by boston valley) is underway. a few additional images were taken...
seldom seen 1950s photographic print (not by richard nickel) of adler and sullivan's garrick theater when it was converted from theater to tv studio. there are additional images from this "series," so i will be sure to post them. the ornamental balcony plaster looks polychromed, but...
the latest efforts to digitize notable chicago architect john vinci's collection of kodachrome and/or ektachrome slides presented below. to see previous installations or galleries of images from this ever-growing collection, visit the links below. captions will be added to the slides as time permits. ...