24 Feb

Posted at 08:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

this week three lots located on west ohio street were in the beginning phase of being dug by workers from one of many demolition companies i work with. the lot being excavated once contained a small workers cottage that i missed the chance to document during its...

19 Feb

Posted at 14:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

with the combination salvage and photo-documentation phase of the c. 1888 west side chicago holy bethel church (more often referred to as the adams street church) nearly completed, i'm now prepared to witness its heartbreaking death when the excavator begins demolition on monday. originally the demolition date...

18 Feb

Posted at 16:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

this week sees the impending demolition of the late 1880's holy bethel or "adams street" church situated at the corner of adams and damen, near the united center on chicago's west side. with the excavator set to arrive on thursday, i have all day wednesday...

17 Feb

Posted at 10:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

in the bldg. 51 collection is a stunning ornamental cast iron elevator grille fabricated by the winslow brothers for the interior of the manhattan building. the single-sided copper-plated panel features very unique organic motifs throughout. the detailed vertical panel is a historically important remnant of...

17 Feb

Posted at 10:23h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts acquired and listed on the urban remains website (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 of the...

11 Feb

Posted at 11:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

this week saw the purchase of a historically important and exquisitely detailed sumac pattern plasterwork frieze fragment from the extant dana-thomas house at 301 e lawrence avenue, in springfield, il. the frank lloyd wright-designed residence was commissioned for susan lawrence dana in 1902, about a...

09 Feb

Posted at 17:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

when i arrived at the address late last week, i wasn't exactly sure what to expect. perhaps the wreckers weren't exactly sure either, since the endgame seemed ambiguous. the post-fire brick workers cottage did not land on my radar because there wasn't a demolition permit pulled. instead,...

05 Feb

Posted at 01:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

…the “Monadnock” went ahead; an amazing cliff of brickwork, rising sheer and stark, with a subtlety of line and surface, a direct singleness of purpose, that gave one the thrill of romance. It was the first and last work of its kind; a great work...

02 Feb

Posted at 18:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

going into 2016 marks an important milestone for urban remains, a milestone representing a sometimes arduous, surprising and notably transformative journey full of wonder, beauty and not a few dangerous exploits. i have now spent over a decade salvaging, archiving and compiling an enormous repository...

02 Feb

Posted at 01:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

a development in the afterlife of the non-extant osborne & adams commercial loft arrived recently via an email from my good friend, tim samuelson while we were discussing the use and/or abundance of both sandstone and limestone as building materials used in post fire chicago...

29 Jan

Posted at 15:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

exactly a year ago i was spending a great deal of time excavating a site in west chicago, at the corner of paulina and wood, that i deemed the "big dig." over the course of several days , despite the temperature hovering around zero degrees and the earth being incredibly...

28 Jan

Posted at 11:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

joining a number of other artifacts in the bldg. 51 collection that originated in holabird & root-designed buildings, is an art deco cast bronze lobby elevator grille from the palmolive building, at 919 michigan avenue. the heavy square panel features an elaborate motif that once...

26 Jan

Posted at 00:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

in addition to acquiring multiple winslow brothers exterior cast iron stringcourse or frieze panels from the gage building late last year, the bldg. 51 collection has now obtained a rare sullivan-designed terra cotta fragment from the facade of the same extant building, located in downtown...

25 Jan

Posted at 14:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

following up on the recent demolition at the corner of wells and chicago, of the former "voltz hall" -- i cannot help but return time and again to sites that peak my interest. over the weekend, i identified one of the limestone window headers laying...

21 Jan

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

regardless of season or day of the week, i remain busier then ever -- devoted to delivering meaningful posts and revising the pile of projects that were set on the back-burner when multiple demolitions were taking place each week. i spend every night reviewing photo-documentation,...

20 Jan

Posted at 22:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Travel by

on a recent weekend trip to milwaukee, i revisited and toured the famous pabst mansion, a monumental limestone and terra cotta residence that sits on wisconsin avenue. the house is an anomaly, set back from the street and situated between non-descript university buildings. though hard...

19 Jan

Posted at 15:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

moving and organizing old inventory this past week, i re-discovered several interesting pieces from a lengthy and tumultuous salvage nearly 7 years ago. the artifacts described in this post had completely slipped from my mind, since i didn't devote much attention or time to removing architectural artifacts from...

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