shortly before the historic division street riveted plate steel bascule bridge (constructed in 1902-03) was fenced off in preparation for demolition, i spent an afternoon photodocumenting it from what felt like every conceivable angle to satisfy my mind's eye. accessing the hydraulic machinery below or underside of...
beginning monday a demolition crew will begin deconstructing the historic division street bridge located near goose island. the city will be replacing the 111-year-old bascule type (commonly referred to as a drawbridge) with an interim span while building a permanent replacement. the bridge was originally built...
the gallery below contains a small collection of images taken of ganz hall (originally the banquet hall) at the auditorium building while i attended the lecture given by the architecture firm booth hansen. i must admit, i was much more consumed with processing sullivan's design elements...
we just recently acquired two matching c. 1915-18 original and intact american industrial crouse-hinds "explosion proof" incandescent light fixtures with unusual riveted joint yellow brass flat bar or strap cages. both fixtures have been thoroughly cleaned and refinished to greatly enhance the visual contrast between the...
this ornamented radiator grille, fabricated for the cyrus mccormick mansion remodel - where only two were actually installed - is considered to be the purest expression of a louis h. sullivan design executed in three-dimensional form by the winslow brothers foundry of chicago. interestingly, george grant...
interior elements from the historically significant gethsemane missionary baptist church were salvaged earlier this week. during the process, i experienced a bit of a freak accident, when i fell off a ladder, bruising ribs and spraining my left arm. having been in the dark and intensely...
i revisited the chicago athletic association building this afternoon. i spent several hours moving up, down, and all around the scaffolding covering the building's facade. i've made a point to include images of tradesman signatures and the adjoining building, originally known as the gage brothers and company...
i recently acquired a very unusual, folded and pressed galvanized steel factory machinist tool chest with distinctive riveted joints and customized drop handles and hasps. after thoroughly cleaning it, i added it to my ever-growing subcollection of industrial artifacts that i find to be unusual, one-of-a-kind...
the late 19th century historic fisher building designed by architects charles atwood and daniel h. burnham is bedecked with distinctive ornament on the inside and out. the terra cotta-clad neo-gothic style skyscraper was commissioned by paper magnate lucius fisher. the images here, show a distinctive figural (i.e.,...
on sunday afternoon of the memorial day weekend, i managed to make time to visit frank lloyd wright's winter home and school known as taliesin west, which is located on a southern slope of the mcdowell range overlooking paradise valley outside scottsdale, arizona. wright would spend his winters there,...
over fifty american depression-era "new old stock" pressed and folded baked green enameled steel reflectors or shades were recently discovered in the storage room of an old chicago area twine factory. the diminutive pendant or task lamp shades were designed and fabricated by or for harvey...
i've decided to add more posts pertaining to "gardenesque" ornament, perhaps inspired by what i've discovered in the chicago athletic association building (a topic i've written about before) and more recently, my revisitation of the ornamental terra cotta elements i managed to salvage from the...
i'm truly amazed at the enormity of ornament found in the commercial and residential buildings we salvage prior to the arrival of the wrecking ball. much of this interior ornament was produced by the decorators supply company, which traces its history back to 1883 when the original...
after a long day of extensive shooting at the chicago athletic association building the other day, i purposely went out of my way to photograph sullivan's intricate organic design motifs covering the schlesinger & mayer building's corner entrance. i never grow tired of studying the ornament from...
the fate of the historic roanoke building's c. 1914 basement general distribution switchboard remains uncertain. "offline" or disconnected since 1940, the largely intact black slate-backed "open" switchboard, with visually appealing glass enclosed watthour, volt and amp meters, along with oversized copper "knife" switches and incised-letter plaques...
the photo gallery below offers a few hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (10 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 20,000 item mark. the ultimate goal since...
detailed photograph of holy trinity orthodox cathedral's west entrance canopy. the image was taken over the weekend by eric j. nordstrom during a brief visit to document exterior church features. the chicago church was constructed in 1903, and is one of only two churches designed...
the photographs taken by eric. j. nordstrom were taken bottom-up, beginning at the building's midsection. the last "period" image of the building - around the turn of the century - can be used as your guide to pinpoint the locations where nordstrom's detailed images were taken. nearly...
