03 Mar

Posted at 16:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

  once again i managed to reserve some time for congress's theaters dark, cavernous attic space when i revisited the theater last week to resume documenting the interior and exterior before its its extensive overhaul gets underway. almost immediately after entering the attic, i discovered a heavily-used...

03 Mar

Posted at 05:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

last year i devoted a great deal of my time documenting 19th chicago workers cottages built before and after the great chicago fire of 1871. thankfully, the majority of the houses i photographically surveyed were not threatened with demolition, espeically on the north side of chicago, just...

02 Mar

Posted at 03:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the full-figured terra cotta eagles (american terra cotta company) and the largely unornamented shields they're perched on, were carefully removed from the towering gothic style arched buick automobile showroom's main entrance, designed by notable chicago architect clarence hatzfeld in 1921. the tan-colored, mottled glazed terra...

24 Feb

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

shortly before the michael brand brewery complex was slated for demolition, i made my way over there with the hopes of documenting the few buildings left standing. after speaking with, and later earning the trust of the owner (his family's rubber works business had been...

22 Feb

Posted at 04:53h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

i spent the greater part of my day traversing congress theater's facade scaffolding, to document the largely off-white italian renaissance style terra cotta, anchored firmly against the structure's steel skeleton. records indicate that the terra cotta commission was awarded to the northwestern terra cotta company,...

15 Feb

Posted at 05:42h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

four historically important bldg. 51 museum artifacts rescued from chicago buildings demolition or ill-sighted alteration: [caption id="attachment_27986" align="alignleft" width="3427"] extraordinarily rare and completely intact matching set of late nineteenth century ornamental cast brass electrolier sconces designed by louis h. sullivan for the c. 1894 chicago stock...

14 Feb

Posted at 19:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i've noticed more and more cold-rolled steel or iron porcelain enameled advertising signs being dug from both commercial and residential excavation sites across chicago over the past few months. nearly all of the signs unearthed are heavily corroded with the polychromed enameled finish faded, but...

12 Feb

Posted at 06:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a sizable collection of all original illuminated interior wall-mount lobby bronze meta elevator "signal lanterns" or indicators were salvaged from the historically important, towering 38-story graham, anderson, probst, white-designed foreman-national bank building during a nearly completed overhaul of the "lasalle canyon" skyscraper's interior. the extant foreman...

09 Feb

Posted at 20:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

with "unearthing chicago" (a bldg. 51 publication) off to the printers, i'm eager to revisit a book project i've had on the back-burner for far too long. after nearly 5 years spent intermittently documenting the henry ives cobb-designed chicago athletic association building (1893), during its remarkable...

05 Feb

Posted at 01:19h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

most of the images, at least the ones taken with my zoom lenses, portray the perforated polychromatic terra cotta panel detail outlining the facade of rapp & rapp's mission revival style central park theater. the linear bands of cream and green-colored terra cotta crisscrossing the...

03 Feb

Posted at 20:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a little over a month into the new year, the bldg. 51 museum has been busy acquiring and cataloging several historically important architectural fragments from chicago's past - salvaged from buildings demolished long ago. perhaps the most important acquisition is a rare cast aluminum elevator...

01 Feb

Posted at 21:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the gargantuan painted pine wood arch top surround containing a centrally located "wheel" motif oculus window was successfully extracted from the milwaukee avenue motor sales company prior to the building's demolition last week. i was truly amazed that the entire segmented surround, divided by wood...

30 Jan

Posted at 19:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

chicago's demolition delay hold list for 2017 has its first target - a stunning "foursquare" style 1905 roman brick and carved stone mansion designed by frederick wainwright perkins. it has been home to the serbian american museum since 1952. the permit for its demolition was...

27 Jan

Posted at 17:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

this stereoview captures both a chaotic and energized street scene deep within the former "burnt district" along lasalle street, less than 2 years after the great fire of 1871. the stereoview (which enhanced the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis, or...

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