last month, chicago architecture reported the "demolition derby" on wells street, with two sites making way for a 39-story apartment block and 22-story residential tower. the wreckage continues this month at 800 n. wells street. joining the graveyard of century-old buildings turned into high rises,...

the bldg. 51 building artifact has recently acquired yet another important "gardenesque"  architectural remnant in the form of a massive ornamental cast iron frieze or stringer panel generously donated by chicago's cultural historian, tim samuelson. the 1928 exterior building facade panel fragment was recovered by tim on...

during the first week of january 2016, the bldg. 51 museum received an original and historically-important post-fire window keystone from a lake street loft building (osborne and adams, 1872). this was comprised of a seldom encountered material -- "artificial stone" -- which undoubtedly adds to its importance...

early in the morning i arrived onsite with a delivery of boxed donuts (per tim samuelson's suggestion when negotiating with national wrecking). sure enough, mike -- the foreman and son of the company founder butch mandell -- delivered on his promise to set aside a single post-fire osborne and...

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). approaching the ten year anniversary of urban remains, the goal -- now and since 2006 --...

i often refer to living a dichotomous lifestyle when telling people how i went from molecular geneticist to the urban "archaeologist" at demolition and excavation sites. back then, at moment's notice i would leave the laboratory a little early if an impending demolition was on the horizon near...

just before christmas i had spoken to mike, son of national wrecking's head honcho, to determine whether the historically important "artificial stone" facade of this post-fire building was going to be saved.  i was taken aback when he responded with a "yes", but only two complete...

in previous posts (here and here) i've discussed my concern over the number of buildings being demolished that have facades bedecked with glazed white "sullivanesque" terra cotta ornament. this unusual terra cotta, "inspired" by organic design motifs original to louis h. sullivan and his chief draftsman...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 26,800+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

i was informed earlier in the week that the art deco style palmolive building's new two-story storefront was nearing completion, with the west facade (facing michigan avenue) outfitted with cast aluminum ornament (mimicking a bronze finish) in place with light treatment added to accentuate the "details" of the pilasters,...

finally, with time to spare, i wanted to tie up loose ends on some of the demolitions projects that were sitting restlessly on my back burner and/or not completely documented to my satisfaction. these "projects," now in the form of a growing number of digital folders containing imagery...

the "chatter" of several concerned chicagoans with a keen eye on the rapidly diminishing residences and commercial buildings constructed in the 19th century may have been overheard by the developers who brought national wrecking onboard to clear a group of extant buildings/structures located along a strip of lake...

in 1912 an apartment complex was built above a small land fill, one that night scavengers (i.e., privy vault cleaners) likely dumped their wagons filled with refuse in, beginning around 1878 up until the 1890's. according to an 1886 sanborn insurance map, this large tract of...

earlier this year i purchased a massive copper severed head from the 19th century "spirit of progress" thirty foot gargantuan weathervane (built by sculptor john massey rhind) that sat atop the montgomery ward building, designed in 1898 by the notable architectural firm of schmidt, garden & martin. as the...

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