i can't reiterate how fulfilling it is to travel back in time and immerse myself in a seemingly endless cache of richard nickel contact prints documenting the death of first chicago school buildings, including many built by the firm of adler & sullivan. as an...
the following john vinci slides paint the demolition of adler & sullivan's schiller building or garrick theater (completed in 1892) in full color, thanks to the use of kodachrome, which was the first commercially successful color film praised since the great depression for its sharpness, archival durability, and...
the following images were pulled from one of my latest photographic archives devoted to the study of ornamental detail found throughout interior spaces within adler & sullivan's 1889 auditorium building. images taken from the building's theater and ganz hall will be addressed in future posts. [caption...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 35,800 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
the following selection of images were taken during the salvage operation at 170-172 n. halsted. we salvaged anything and everything, including old elevator equipment and a pair of steel elevator doors. our work is done there, but i will likely stick around to document the...
[caption id="attachment_37268" align="alignleft" width="1200"] undated kodachrome slide courtesy of the john vinci collection.[/caption] i recently stumbled across several images taken by an amateur photographer of the reliance building prior to extensive renovations - both inside and out - in preparation for it's new life as a...
john vinci kodachrome images capturing the final moments of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) in late april of 1972. note the gargantuan main steel trusses (fully exposed) that spanned the elaborately stenciled trading room. the stock exchange was completed in 1894 by the...
a renewed and increasingly obsessive interest in painstakingly photographing architectural ornament on downtown chicago's landmarked buildings has been a welcome change from spending hours on end digitizing any and all ephemera and photographic images tied to the first chicago school of architecture - another project...
the following acquisitions (see images below), in the form of architectural building fragments, photographic images, and, miscellaneous ephemera, represent a fraction of historically important materials recently added to the bldg. 51 museum and its newly formed sister organization focusing architectural ornament and ephemera (website for...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 35,700 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
three 19th century masonry worker cottages located on the north and west side of chicago were issued demolition permits within one week of each other. as of this writing, one has already been reduced to rubble. a red brick two-flat with jeweled and beveled transom windows...
in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" publication (slated for completion after "unearthing chicago hits circulation), i continue data-gathering by documenting any and all building material used in the construction of the balloon frame, beginning from the 1840's on through the 1880's. all of the material collected thus far...
the following images are from a two-story victorian era commercial building built around 1882. additional research will hopefully flesh out architect and/or builder along with commercial and residential tenements that resided there since the time the building was completed. the largely intact storefront was...
the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 35,600 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...
[caption id="attachment_37444" align="alignleft" width="1000"] sullivan devoted a great deal of energy to the masonry joinery, making it a critical facet of the structure's overall composition. the ashlar limestone slabs were arranged horizontally to form the lower walls. the arches and windows or portals are surrounded...
sorting through and processing boxes of carefully cataloged richard nickel contact sheets documenting the life and death of adler & sullivan's schiller building (later known as the garrick theater) has resurrected my laser-like focus or "maniacal obsession" from a seemingly inescapable or crippling battle with...
the following gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 35,500 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...
john vinci kodachrome slides documenting the reconstruction of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building trading room. thankfully, john dated each and every slide, so we have a concise timeline of the room's reconstruction. i hope to have any and all slides (taken by john...
three sections of nearly identical ornamental terra cotta roofline or coping panels featuring repeating hand-applied balls or spheres joined the bldg. 51 museum building artifact collection. ornament from the early wright-designed apartment complex was salvaged and distributed during demolition in 1973. the pieces acquired by...
the following post contains another installment of objects, culled from various ongoing projects (both past and present), which were selected and assembled as a "hodgepodge" cohered by the single theme of being largely utilitarian objects from chicago's past. as previously stated, when we can flesh...