BLDG51. News and Events |

04 Apr bldg. 51 musuem acquires historically important terra cotta from three adler & sullivan buildings

Posted at 02:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

taking on more projects when already burned out beyond belief takes its toll - both physically and mentally. however, i've mastered the ability to ignore the warning signs (again and again) when situations arise where i know i need to act - whether its documenting...

31 Mar post-fire italianate rowhouse on orchard on its way out

Posted at 16:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

update from a previous post documenting the death of 2252 n. orchard - an 1870's post-fire italianate with original bracketed wood cornice and artificial stone window hoods with centrally located keystones. i have never worked with this wrecker so i'm on the sidelines documenting the carnage....

28 Mar latest installment of digitized images from the bldg. 51 museum archive

Posted at 21:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

the following collection of historically important photographic images - now digitized and added to the ever-growing bldg. 51 museum online archive - reflects ongoing efforts to completely digitize the archives of architect john vinci and historian tim samuelson - who together, hold a massive repository...

26 Mar former morton salt building undergoing demolition

Posted at 16:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago the five story concrete flat slab constructed 1958 building designed by graham, anderson, probst & white at 110 n wacker has been undergoing demolition for the past several weeks. thousands of loop office workers have been able to witness...

23 Mar historially important windows from burnham & root’s palmer v. kellogg mansion (1883) join bldg. 51 museum collection

Posted at 15:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

a matching set of original richly colored stained interior residential stained glass windows - salvaged from the palmer v. kellogg mansion (burnham and root, 1883) during the depression - joined the bldg. 51 museum collection earlier this week. the two high victorian windows - featuring...

16 Mar a private collection of richard nickel kodachromes now digitized

Posted at 04:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

i've had the privilege to carefully pour over and digitize several original kodachrome slides - documenting the death of dankmar adler and louis sullivan buildings - taken at the height of urban renewal and/or slum clearance by chicago photographer richard nickel in the 1960's. when...

15 Mar five images of ornament extracted from historically important buildings

Posted at 05:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

five distinct, historically important pieces of ornament, salvaged from buildings no longer with us, or senselessly altered. the following captions identify the ornament. the images were shot with the aid of natural light. only one image captures the object in its entirety while the others...

14 Mar two early 20th century two-flats on claremont avenue issued wrecking permits

Posted at 03:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

two early 20th century chicago two-flats were issued demolition permits on march 6th. the buildings are located at 1346 and 1350 north claremont avenue respectively. the green fence has not been erected, nor has the wrecker delivered their excavators, but within the next week or...

09 Mar latest salvaged artifacts recently added to urban remains virtual online catalog

Posted at 22:20h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following 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 35,500 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...

08 Mar burnham, root, and atwood’s reliance building in 1987

Posted at 16:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

burnham, root, and atwoood's reliance building (1890-1895) as it looked in 1987. the mood of this tired building (since restored) is overpowering, so i chose to intervene as little as possible. the kodachrome slides were taken by john vinci. i wish i could've spent a...

05 Mar village theater’s polychrome terra cotta facade stays, but the building’s auditorium goes

Posted at 16:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

work has begun on village theater (built as the germania in 1916). concealing the facade by stacking three 53' foot containers is interesting. the auditorium will be demolished, but the facade will remain intact. will have to keep a close on eye on this one. ...

01 Mar several historically important artifacts, books and ephemera join bldg. 51 museum and archive in 2018

Posted at 22:42h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

2018 looks to be a very promising 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...

27 Feb another post-fire chicago residence on orchard faces wrecking machine

Posted at 21:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

i finally had a chance to leave my shop and shoot architectural ornament this afternoon. while driving around old town i recalled a demo permit issued for a structure on orchard. i had to triple-check the address (2252 n. orchard) when i pulled up...

24 Feb herman v. von holst’s southside chicago prairie style gaitan building (1924) threatened with demolition

Posted at 23:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

a green fence was wrapped around a southside chicago comed substation named the gaitan building (1924) - located at 6141 s. prairie ave a few days ago. this is yet another building from the chicago landmarks historic survey that may be wiped from memory. i...

22 Feb john vinci slides of chicago’s past: the first of several posts covering the digitizing of his extensive archive

Posted at 03:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

[caption id="attachment_35297" align="alignleft" width="1200"] chicago stock exchange trading room blueprint, 1977.[/caption] i've spent the last several months digitizing hundreds of kodachrome slides taken by john vinci beginning in the late 1950's and ending in 1990's when he retired his hasselblad 500c camera (kodachrome film was discontinued in...

21 Feb with demolition complete, documentation of south side masonic temple draws to a close

Posted at 15:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago [caption id="attachment_35763" align="alignleft" width="1200"] the last series of images chronicling the demolition of clarence hatzfeld's south side masonic temple (1921).[/caption] [caption id="attachment_35766" align="alignleft" width="1200"] south entrance partially covered in snow.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_35765" align="alignleft" width="1200"] machines at rest after chicago snowstorm.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_35764"...

20 Feb devoting time to document chicago’s architecture has proved challenging in 2018

Posted at 20:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

spending countless hours over the past several months digitizing and disseminating john vinci and tim samuelson's historically important chicago architectural objects and ephemera, along with restructuring my architectural fragment museum in preparation for moving it to a storefront accessible to the public, has been immensely...

16 Feb bldg. 51 museum hosts iit’s college of architecture phd program student field trip

Posted at 23:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

i was honored that students and faculty from the illinois institute of technology's school of architecture phd program chose to visit the bldg. 51 museum for their field trip in january of 2018. the extensive tour was a great opportunity to view and discuss historically...

16 Feb newly discovered photographs capture the tragic loss of adler & sullivan’s pilgrim baptist church

Posted at 21:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

[caption id="attachment_35691" align="alignleft" width="917"] photo courtesy of the richard nickel archive and chicago art institute.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_35692" align="alignleft" width="1767"] photo courtesy of the richard nickel archive and chicago art institute.[/caption] one of the most important objectives this year is to begin the arduous process of navigating...

13 Feb revisiting “unearthing chicago” in 2018

Posted at 00:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

i have tens of thousands of images taken from dig sites across the city of chicago. sadly, only a few hundred have been edited and added to blog posts over the years. the "unearthing chicago" book will remain in suspended animation until the day i...