24 Aug

Posted at 02:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

among the non-chicago based artifacts in the bldg. 51 museum collection is a highly unusual depression-era theater seat end, included in the catalog for its reflection of exotic movie palace architecture in the mid-west, and as an object designed for chicago architects anker graven and...

22 Aug

Posted at 15:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

outside of architectural ornament, signage is an important element of the built landscape for its ability to retrace a specific area's changing landscape. as a salvaged object, it is always implicated in whatever historical narrative might arise. this is embodied in a very rare original...

20 Aug

Posted at 10:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

  last weekend i made my way over to rush hospital to document what remained of the historically important buildings containing ornamental terra cotta, limestone, and other materials on their facades. once onsite it was clear the presbyterian hospital's daniel a. jones building (1888) was long...

17 Aug

Posted at 13:41h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts salvaged and/or acquired and posted in the urban remains massive website catalog (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one...

17 Aug

Posted at 05:14h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

during this week’s demolition at 2442 w. moffat street, as st. john’s church was painstakingly deconstructed before my eyes, i decided to move forward and secure two matching sets of original c. 1910 gothic style pressed and folded antique copper finials, along with the topmost oversized finial...

15 Aug

Posted at 21:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

the 19th century two-story wood frame victorian style house had already been mowed down by the time i arrived onsite - i was shuttling back and forth between salvaging, digging and documenting other doomed buildings around the city, so i was unable to commit more time to...

11 Aug

Posted at 20:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

a permit was issued earlier this week to wreck and remove the terra cotta building at 3228 north clark street which until recently housed “the alley” and long ago held a nickelodeon and neighborhood gathering place called the "clermont". although some tout the current development vision...

11 Aug

Posted at 14:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

[caption id="attachment_23470" align="alignleft" width="1000"] mountains of early 20th century lath waiting to be organized and strapped into bundles for reuse as anything and everything. the building is slowly dying, but its remnants will live on elsewhere.[/caption] the destruction of a building occurs within a finite, and...

10 Aug

Posted at 05:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

this past week demolition of a pre-fire workers cottage (the original cottage dates to the late 1860's, with subsequent additions added over the next 40 years) hit close to home (quite literally), with wrecking machines moving in on a neighboring structure, just adjacent to the rear...

08 Aug

Posted at 18:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

the great majority of the keystones included in this photographic essay were taken from various extant commercial and residential structures built shortly after the great chicago fire of 1871, within what is known as the "burnt district." this area, consisting of downtown and the neighborhoods...

30 Jul

Posted at 16:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

fifty years ago a sunset pink structure with towering stepped profile crumbled to the ground beside lake michigan. under pressure of bankruptcy and the promise of new development, the edgewater beach hotel abruptly closed its doors in the far northern neighborhood of chicago, only to...

28 Jul

Posted at 04:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

as covered in a prior post, last week brought about the salvage of a century-old three-flat commercial masonry structure located near grand and halsted, set to be demolished in the near future. the facade belies somewhat its historic character as residence and production space of the...

27 Jul

Posted at 17:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

[gallery ids="22584,22583"] another historic structure is threatened with impending demolition at the corner of broadway and sheridan, an iconic art deco building with white molded cement eagles protruding from the cornice and lending the building its colloquial namesake, the "eagles building." the early 20th century harry hale...

26 Jul

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

i revisited st. boniface after spending the afternoon bouncing back and forth between the demolition of harpo studios and of a mid-19th century cottage across the street from my shop. despite the local coverage over st. boniface's fate (with recent developments suggesting demolition is imminent),...

25 Jul

Posted at 03:59h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

[caption id="attachment_22931" align="alignleft" width="2048"] hand-painted wood sign with shadowed lettering, jennaro brothers produce, milwaukee, wisc. the vacant building was purchased for redevelopment.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_22932" align="alignleft" width="1492"] dock 4, john pritzlaff hardware company, milwaukee, wisc. founded in 1850, closed in 1958.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_22930" align="alignleft" width="2048"] detail (figural zinc...

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