22 Jun

Posted at 16:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

unearthing detritus from the lives of 19th century chicagoans often means coming across mundane fragments of glass, bone and broken bottles. sometimes, though, even a shard of glass or a broken object can prove to be an exceptional oddity- evidence of victorian customs or a...

21 Jun

Posted at 12:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

an unexpected acquisition was made this week, in the form of two historically important and all original sullivan-designed, white glazed ornamental terra cotta lintels from the facade of the sullivan center (formerly known as the carson pirie scott building company). the landmark commercial building was...

21 Jun

Posted at 10:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

when i got wind that a late 19th century two-story brick commercial building was set to be demolished, i modified my schedule immediately to allow for a visit to the building. sadly, the structure waiting to be wiped away from van buren street sat abandoned, exhibiting a high degree of...

15 Jun

Posted at 14:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

an incredible find was made earlier this week during demolition in lincoln park, as heneghan wrecking company tore back the walls of a c. 1927 grocery store. while the structure was turned to rubble, a long hidden "ghost sign" was unveiled on the neighboring building, having...

13 Jun

Posted at 15:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by

with research ongoing, it is nevertheless clear that only a few single-story brick workers cottages built within the great chicago fire's "burnt district" still remain. the rare survivor, built shortly after the city began its unimaginable rise from the ruins, is now, 144 years later,...

12 Jun

Posted at 12:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

when i arrived at the partially demolished house, i felt relaxed and more than prepared to get lost in "the zone" of traveling back in time, carefully analyzing and deconstructing - at least in my head - the fully exposed 19th century wood-framed cottage. since i was the...

09 Jun

Posted at 15:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the great majority of extant 19th century chicago commercial building facades have succumbed to those 20th century remuddlings that greatly disfigure or altogether destroy the integrity of a building's original architectural character. the replacement of windows to make them more energy efficient is one thing, but more often than...

09 Jun

Posted at 09:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

  when salvaging a house slated for demolition, i first and foremost size up both the interior and exterior elements that need to be removed, documenting the "before and after" as a critical facet of the narrative which i set out to capture on each site....

07 Jun

Posted at 22:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

sadly, i missed salvaging and/or documenting the death of this steeply-pitched gabled roof masonry chicago cottage constructed around 1890-1895. when i did make it to the site, all that remained were partially intact brick foundation walls, with the heavily notched interlocking pine wood sill plates...

06 Jun

Posted at 17:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

shortly before the last wave of demolition left the original 1865 foundry building standing alone, as the only reminder of crane's bustling fabrication of steam and valve fitters, urban remains was able to salvage and document the event. the crane manufacturing company lasted well into...

03 Jun

Posted at 16:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

with so many demolished chicago wood-framed worker's cottages, there are a slew of recently documented buildings that await an assigned narrative around their histories, as well as documentation of the accompanying destruction and loss. the "old world" craftsmanship used to erect these simple, yet elegant cottages...

31 May

Posted at 15:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

in the aftermath of a partial demolition of chicago's oldest factory building (the c. 1870 addition to the crane manufacturing company), several items have already been unearthed during excavation, with some pre-dating the factory itself. aside from ephemera related to the business (see prior post here), artifacts include a heavily...

31 May

Posted at 13:33h 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...

30 May

Posted at 10:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

having recently witnessed the charles sumner frost-designed public life insurance building being unceremoniously toppled, with no effort toward its salvage, my mind wandered to other sites in the city, both remaining and lost, that were touched by the architects. frost had a fruitful partnership with alfred...

29 May

Posted at 23:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

on a calm afternoon, only myself and the wreckers were present as the humongous carved limestone columns proudly gracing the facade of the charles sumner frost-designed public life insurance building (1921) were quickly turned to a crumbling heap. the clunky, menacing clam bucket attached to the boom...

24 May

Posted at 01:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the 11-story "moorish gothic" office building was completed in 1899 by architect harry bergen wheelock, originally serving as the offices of the western methodist book exchange, later as the stop and shop warehouse. this week's acquisitions include an additional "sullivanesque" spandrel panel (four sections creates a...

23 May

Posted at 13:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

this week the bldg. 51 collection acquired a pair of historically important bronze and pressed two-piece frosted glass elevator indicator light fixtures dating to william drummond's renovation of the rookery building in the 1930's. the super super streamlined elevator fixtures feature centrally located rings flanked on...

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