below is a descriptive account of the montgomery ward building, paraphrased from the inland architect and news record published in 1901, and describes the many facets of the construction process. at the time of construction, the montgomery ward building was the tallest in chicago, topping out at nearly 394...
latest images from my ever-growing photographic survey of extant late 19th and early 20th century chicago residential and commercial structures located across chicago. the work focuses on terra cotta ornament adorning the armour institute of technology (1893, patten and fisher, architects), burnham and root’s st....
a well maintained three-flat red brick apartment building punctuated with ornamental floral moif anderson pressed brick, fret-sawn painted pine wood window lunettes and original ornamental cast and wrought iron newel, bracket and pipe railings (flanking stoops and front elevation), were demolished and trucked off to...
architectural photographer richard nickel’s “polish palazzo” was built as a two-story unpretentious victorian era masonry building for wilhelm grimm in 1889. grimm operated his bakery (including brick ovens located behind the building) out of the first floor storefront with the second floor being his living...
the following images were taken during a brief visit to la crosse, wisconsin (march, 2021), a small historic city founded in 1848 on the mississippi river, where several surviving 19th century workers cottages, italianate commercial buildings, and chicago prairie school structures contribute to cityscape rich...
images of the chicago and northwestern railroad terminal (1911) before and during its demolition in 1984. the station was designed by architects frost and granger and built by the george a. fuller company. the non-extant beaux arts station's exterior was finished using indiana limestone quarried...
several original and well-maintained mounted albumen prints of 19th century chicago taken by photographer james w. taylor were acquired by the bldg. 51 archive in mid-february, 2021. nearly a hundred original albumen prints (including, but not limited to, various sizes, mounting formats and year) by...
photographic study documenting henry schlack's st. paul church (1897-1899) located in chicago's pilsen neighborhood. i hope to create a sizable collection of images capturing both the exterior and interior in great detail throughout 2021. ...
chicago board of trade (1930, holabird and root, architects) through images and artifacts culled from the bldg. 51 archive. chicago board of trade building (1930, holabird & root, architects) featuring 31-foot aluminum statue of ceres, roman goddess of agriculture. the figure was sculpted by artist john...
third and final installment, documenting the death of chicago's second german evangelical zion church, built by chicago architect theodore duesing in 1905. sadly, but not suprisingly, nothing was salvaged and/or saved during its demolition. interestingly, the cornerstone didn't have a time capsule. ...
before its rapid transformation, the “fulton street market” of tech giants and restauranteurs was a quintessential part of chicago’s industrial past, a thriving home to the city’s first century as a gritty, blue collar hub, where food distribution and manufacturing boomed. sadly, as preservation becomes...
before it was demolished nearly 10 years ago, the patton and fisher-designed dana hotel (built as the erie apartment building in 1891) was chicago's oldest continuously-running hotel, and one of the oldest extant hotel structures in the city. it was furthermore, a remarkable queen anne style...
richard nickel images documenting the demolition of adler & sullivan's meyer building or commercial lofts (1892). the 7-story structure was commissioned by the estate of m.a. meyer, a former partner in selz, schwab, & company. the heavily fortified masonry and terra cotta m.a. meyer lofts...
the following images begin with a seldom seen james w. taylor albumen print of the house shortly after its construction in 1884, followed by a charles cushman image of the house shortly before alterations were made to the parapet (i.e., centrally located window muntin reconfiguration...
This Popular House Style in Chicago is Going Extinct Workers cottages, once a staple of Chicago’s middle-class culture, came to define the character of its residential neighborhoods. Now they’re being demolished in the name of urban development. Can they be saved, or will they slip, one...
the chicago heritage committee was formed in 1960 by richard nickel and thomas stauffer shortly after nickel finished documenting the garrick theater. the committee was essentially created to save the garrick theater. the grass-roots organization was the first of its kind devoted to architectural preservation in...
the following images represent a well rounded cross section of historically important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum archive as of february, 2021. a more focused and in-depth blog post, with detailed captions, will highlight some...
several amazingly intact post-fire chicago soda "blobtop" smooth base bottles were discovered during excavation of a lot where a wood-frame cottage (1873-1876) once stood. the majority of the bottles unearthed, were made for bottler william h. hutchinson (whh). nearly all of the bottles were found...
the first series of images focused on methodically documenting the cream-colored glazed terra cotta ornament designed by prairie architect hugh garden for the third church of christ scientist (1899-1901) located on chicago's west side at 2151 w. washington blvd. ...
the henry rokham house is one of four homes located on “terra cotta row” in the lakeview neighborhood of chicago. rokham was one of the founding members of the northernwestern terra cotta company (formerly known as true, bunkhorst & co. northwestern terra cotta works), which...