BLDG51. News and Events |

24 Feb latest 19th and early 20th century american builders’ residential and commercial hardware added to urban remains online catalog

Posted at 04:39h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following image gallery represents a fraction of 19th and early 20th century american builders' hardware recently added to urban remains website catalog. several examples salvaged from historically important buildings across the country will be added in the coming months as well. ...

24 Feb never-seen-before images documenting the destruction of louis sullivan’s eli b. felsenthal store and flats

Posted at 03:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the felsenthal store, apartment, office and loft building was designed and built by louis h. sullivan in 1906 for eli e. felsenthal (friend and family attorney for sullivan's former partner, dankmar adler). the two-story masonry building was located at 701-709 east 47th street, chicago, ills. the...

23 Feb historically important schiller building artifacts and ephemera housed in the bldg. 51 museum and archive

Posted at 23:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following images in the gallery below offer a glimpse at any and all artifacts and ephemera pertaining to adler and sullivan's schiller building (later known as dearborn and garrick theater) completed in 1892. the artifacts, including interior and exterior architectural ornament (e.g., terra cotta,...

23 Feb latest photographic survey of architectural ornament on chicago’s historically important commercial and residential buildings

Posted at 22:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

latest photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey (as of january, 2021) is provided below. the photographic images focus on architectural ornament located on historically important extant buildings located in downtown chicago and surrounding neighborhoods where the historic fabric is largely intact and well-maintained. among the...

18 Feb 19th century chicago greystone casualties from 1948 congress street expressway way

Posted at 18:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

images of chicago greystone causalities to make way for congress street express way in 1948. to establish fair market value, the city made photographs and property valuations for each and every property targeted for demolition. despite the widespread destruction and displacement, at least there's an extensive visual...

15 Feb richard nickel “ornament salvage” workbook for holabird and roche’s cable building

Posted at 02:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

for several months now, richard nickel's letters, notes, and images led me to believe that he only made one exhaustive "ornament salvage" workbook - with images - for adler and sullivan's 1893 garrick theater. he actually went a step further and created less comprehensive "catalogs"...

10 Feb second german evangelical zion church: going, going, gone.

Posted at 15:53h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

erasure of the second german evangelical zion church from chicago's cityscape is happening at a surprisingly ferocious pace, with masonry façade and bell tower (bell removed long ago), the only notable features left standing, despite being covered in a web of scaffolding. the third and...

10 Feb parts, pieces, and systems of 19th century chicago frame cottages

Posted at 03:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

if a 19th century chicago frame cottage is handed a death sentence, you can rest assured i will be there to document its death. i will pick apart, lightly clean, and photograph any and all relevant building materials in my studio. i do this to...

09 Feb chicago’s “dynamic week” celebrated in part with stainless steel building plaques

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

in chicago, the modern preservation movement rose in tandem with the 1950s post-depression era and war renewal program. decentralization, suburbanization, and migration to cities in the us south and west posed a grave threat to chicago’s economy. leaders feared criticism of chicago’s postwar office construction,...

08 Feb seldom seen richard nickel photos documenting the destruction of burnham and root’s church of the covenant

Posted at 17:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

richard nickel images of burnham and root's romanesque style church of the covenant (1889) shortly before and during its demolition in 1971 i believe. note the "possessed" doll head photos...

08 Feb eight building bricks shed light on the disappearance of chicago’s architectural past

Posted at 12:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

while sorting through boxes of building materials i'm cataloging for my "deconstructing chicago project," i decided to set a group of bricks aside that connect with, based on the salvages and/or stories tied to them. eight stories involving the non-extant buildings from which the bricks...

05 Feb adler and sullivan’s 1884 rueben rubel residence lives on through images and ornament

Posted at 20:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

photographic images and description of rueben rubel residence, 1884-1885, adler and sulivan, architects. demolished 1958. aaron siskind and richard nickel photographs of louis sullivan-designed ornament taken between 1953-54. first image: carved bedford limestone impost block detail from adler and sullivan's walker warehouse (1892) taken shortly...

03 Feb with demolition permit released, second german evangelical zion church quickly heads towards oblivion

Posted at 10:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the looming threat of the second german evangelical zion church's destruction, which had been in a holding pattern for months, was handed its death sentence when the demolition permit was released and the wrecker arrived with equipment to prepare it for destruction. thankfully, i managed...

31 Jan martin schnitzius residence: the well-maintained posterchild of 19th century american worker cottages

Posted at 22:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

one of the most widely recognized, largely intact, and well-maintained worker cottages is the martin schnitzius residence, built in 1891 by the architectural firm of bettinghofer and hermann. the unique design and/or use of ornamentation is a notable example of a more upscale queen anne...

27 Jan 19th century victorian-era wicker park three-flat accentuated with ornamental pressed brick and fret-sawn wood lunettes faces demolition

Posted at 04:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

an impressive 19th century chicago (wicker park neighborhood) three-flat apartment building with distinctive masonry punctuated with ornamental anderson pressed brick, fret-sawn wood window lunettes and amazingly intact surrounding ornamental cast and wrought iron newel, bracket and pipe railings flanking stoops and along sidewalk, will be...

26 Jan protest objects from 1971 demolition of adler and sullivan’s chicago stock exchange building

Posted at 16:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

objects used in the protest over the demolition of adler & sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) building in 1972. the battle was lost and the building was destroyed. during the course of demolition, architectural photographer richard nickel was killed salvaging ornament when a portion...

26 Jan three distinctive signatures left by chicago athletic association building tradesmen

Posted at 05:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

signatures left by three tradesmen on h.i. cobb's chicago athletic association building (1893) facade. [caption id="attachment_32715" align="alignleft" width="900"] george h. macomber, building superintendent, george a fuller construction company. inscribed, 1891.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_32711" align="alignleft" width="900"] "michael." inscribed, 1893.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_32714" align="alignleft" width="900"] john arnold, stonsetter (stonemason), john a. fuller...

26 Jan adler and sullivan’s revell building lives on through richard nickel images and the ornament he saved in 1968

Posted at 03:42h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous by Eric

for such a historically important early adler and sullivan loft building – built around the same time as the jewelers building - richard nickel didn’t take many images (a few contact sheets) of a.s. gage & company store – later known as the revell building,...

26 Jan phenix building’s final days captured by richard nickel shortly before its demolition in 1959

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

recently digitized richard nickel images of burnham and root's phenix building (1887) during its demolition by midwest wrecking in 1957. i was pleasantly surprised to run across both contact sheets and 8 x 10 images of the building's demolition since very few images of chicago school commercial buildings...

19 Jan fulton market’s hollenbach seed company building (1912) reduced to rubble in a matter of hours

Posted at 19:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

the three-story hollenbach seed company building designed by the architectural firm of worthmann and steinbach and completed in 1912, was reduced to rubble in a matter of hours yesterday afternoon. sadly, the distinctive sprayed-glaze red terra cotta ornament, including the centrally located name plaque bearing...