i will kick off from a previous post...
a fine collection of "real bronze" ornamental builders' hardware designed and fabricated by the metal compression casting company and/or the russell & erwin mfg. company was recently purchased by urban remains earlier this week. the "mccc collection," consisting of some of the most finely executed...
i was indifferent when i found a human skull wedged under a load-bearing column while the building (1871) around me was being demolished. perhaps i was more concerned about my safety, but i had to capture a shot of the intact facade before it was...
the recent burst of demolition activity in my "study area" over the last two weeks has been rather bitter-sweet in terms of loss and discovery. the rate at which these outwardly nondescript 19th century wood-framed cottages are being pummeled into the ground (and their remains trucked off...
thank you so much anne sullivan for having me as guest lecturer in your building and materials class this year. i was truly honored and feel now that all of my efforts toward gathering this crazy assemblage of chicago balloon frame components is indeed important....
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 26,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
the vast scattering of excavation sites in and around downtown chicago have provided a dizzying, seemly endless amount of artifacts discarded by chicagoans of the 19th century. the quantity of "hutchinson" type soda or mineral water bottles alone is impressive to say the least. moreso, the sheer variety of...
|Guest Lecture Series|1pm-4pm|9-23-2015|SAIC|Eric J. Nordstrom| PART ONE: Deconstructing the John Kent Russell House [gallery ids="13524,13525,13526,13527,13528,13529,13531,13532,13533,13534,13535,13536,13537,13538,13539,13540,13541,13542,13543,13544,13545"] PART 2: Harvesting materials and recreating "systems" for additional study. ADDITIONAL CASE STUDIES IN PROGRESS....
from the moment i struck through a wall near the northeast corner of the house, i knew that my suspicions about its true identity were correct. after peeling back continuous layers i am convinced this house was likely moved from the central business district sometime during...
an unusual number of original and matching ornamented cast iron "chicago style" newel posts were recently salvaged from a chicago residence dating to the 1880's. the nicely distressed paint ball-finial newels are identical in size with various open hole configurations designed for use with tubular...
over two hours of talking and sustained concentration left me utterly exhausted but satisfied, knowing that i managed to communicate a single important message: urban archaeological research in chicago is virtually non-existent, and an especially overlooked area of the field is in documentation of 19th century household...
the fisher building is 20-story, 275 foot tall neo-gothic landmark building in the chicago loop community area of chicago. commissioned by paper magnate lucius fisher, the original building was completed in 1896 by d.h. burnham & company with an addition later added in 1907. it...
as mentioned earlier, after discussing my recent urban privy find with several people in the field (e.g., historians, archaeologists, chicago bottle collectors and so on), there is very little doubt that i have come across the oldest known/documented chicago urban privy pit, with artifacts pulled from various...
earlier this week i discovered a downtown chicago privy pit that dates from 1830's-1850's, based on the pockets of artifacts or fragments found therein. the artifacts were situated by a haphazard arrangement of early clay bricks, likely used as infill when the privy or trash pit was covered...
on the final day of the freemont street house demolition, the day before we salvaged the ornamental white painted galvanized sheet iron cornice, we managed to secure any and all of the decorative face brick or blocks that adorned the two-flat's facade. the salvaged terra...
the alarming rate of demolition permits issued over the past few years, and the subsequent slow eradication of chicago's rich 19th century landscape needs to stop. wishful thinking of course. i wasn't as concerned or aware of these trends when i was living a dichotomous life, as both...
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 25,800+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...
my travel companion consists of an agglomeration of small but important fragmented building materials, carefully salvaged from both interior and exterior "systems" used in the construction of the wood framed two-story john kent russell house (1855), and any subsequent additions prior to the great chicago...
an assortment of some of my favorite artifacts, objects , and other diminutive fragments mounted on custom-built hardwood plaques by my shop's carpenter. [gallery columns="4" ids="13044,13045,13046,13047,13048,13049,13050,13051,13052,13053,13054,13055,13056,13057,13058,13059,13060,13061,13062,13063,13064,13066,13067,13068,13069,13071,13072,13073,13074,13075,13076,13077,13078,13079,13080,13081,13082,13083,13084,13085,13086,13087,13088,13089,13091,13092,13094,13095,13096,13097,13098,13099,13100,13101,13102,13103,13104,13105,13106"] end...
in preparation for an intensive, systematic photoshoot of the exterior and interior of old st. patrick's church (1854), i came across a statement claiming that the church building is "one of a handful of structures remaining in the city that predate the 1871 great chicago...