03 Apr

Posted at 13:56h in Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

several matching all original interior antique american square-shaped diminutive ceiling rosette tiles were recently salvaged from a late 19th century corner schlitz saloon or tavern (non-extant) located in chicago. the deeply embossed tiles, along with cove molding and wainscoting used throughout the saloon contained markings indicating...

27 Mar

Posted at 17:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

weeks after the auction concluded, the highly anticipated arrival of two historically important early 20th century darwin d. martin interior residential sconces is now over. both the patinated bronze sconces and bulbous white opalescent glass globes (likely original) arrived in safe and sound condition earlier...

27 Mar

Posted at 15:02h in Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

urban remains recently acquired several matching american industrial depression-era wall-mount oversized air hose reels or "aireels" salvaged from the notable chicago-based a. finkl & sons foundry undergoing demolition. nearly twenty air hose reels were found in various outbuildings scattered around the foundry complex. the wall-mount "aireel" was...

26 Mar

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

Steve Johnson CHICAGO TRIBUNEsajohnson​@chicagotribune.com Nathan Leopold's eyeglasses, eyewitness to an infamous murder — and evidence of it. Ann Landers' typewriter, conduit for common-sense advice. Booth One at the Pump Room, marker of status and coddler of scores of celebrity posteriors. The terrific new exhibition "The Secret Lives of...

25 Mar

Posted at 09:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

aside from operating urban remains, a museum and galley, and documenting and salvaging historic structures, i managed to make time here and there for over a year now, devoted to creating and ultimately self-publishing the BLDG. 51 "museum book," which was delivered to me the other...

24 Mar

Posted at 17:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i've been aggressively acquiring architectural artifacts and industrial furniture for most of march, while i patiently await to begin work on two important salvages beginning this spring. i was fortunate and pleasantly surprised that a decent number of important artifacts essentially fell into my lap the...

24 Mar

Posted at 12:46h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

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 surpassed the 22,600 item mark. the...

23 Mar

Posted at 17:53h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

my team and i just completed salvaging a multi-story early 20th century chicago residential masonry building with protruding ornamented tin bay window integrated with a cornice topped with opposed pier caps and voluted roofline ornament. the majority of the building's interior underwent several tasteless renovations during its lifespan,...

18 Mar

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

i've been told time and again that my efforts to meticulously document 19th chicago building methods and materials is "pioneering" work that is, or will be appreciated by researchers, historians, architects, homeowners, etc. in the future. however, that might be a polite way of saying it isn't...

13 Mar

Posted at 14:02h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

shortly after the pre-fire german school building salvage concluded last weekend, we shifted gears and revisited "industrial," by exploring factories, machine shops and warehouses in the chicago area this week to replenish and/or build upon our existing supply of furniture and lighting found in that...

12 Mar

Posted at 16:36h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the assemblage of wood boards represent a mostly intact mid-19th century early chicago residential "privy vault" pine wood floor that was likely constructed by j.k. russell & company, chicago, il.   the defunct outhouse privy hole or "vault" floor was discovered on the john kent russell house...

11 Mar

Posted at 01:04h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

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 surpassed the 22, 500 item...

09 Mar

Posted at 22:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

with the exception of the building itself, the only remaining exterior architectural ornament left undisturbed on the historically important augustus bauer-designed german school, a survivor of the great chicago fire, is a simple, yet elegant hand-carved oversized side entrance keystone featuring a a raised and...

07 Mar

Posted at 22:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

for the past two days i've devoted morning, afternoon and evening obsessively thinking about anything and everything pertaining to an augustus bauer-designed building constructed in 1869. the arrival of souvenir hunters, the police, an alderman, and other, largely unhappy individuals coalescing into a rather unnerving and heavily...

04 Mar

Posted at 10:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

a project manager working for chicago-based heneghan wrecking informed me late last week that two adjoining 19th century multi-story brick commercial buildings located along lake street were undergoing demolition in preparation for future development on the site. when i arrived onsite demolition was in progress, with a large...

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