i've finally made time to meticulously catalog long forgotten remnants (largely in the form of ephemera) i've collected over the years from 19th and early 20th century structures undergoing extensive renovation or demolition. discovering and recording historically important material formerly sealed off and forgotten provides...
the bldg. 51 museum is collaborating with the chicago-based decorators supply company to make a very limited edition of faithfully recreated, full scale cast plaster proscenium vault ventilation domes, original to the interior adler & sulivan-designed auditorium theater (1889), designed by louis h. sullivan and...
aside from the usual collecting of historically important objects, i have been adding substantially to my collection of ephemera, in an effort to find primary sources that may bolster or enhance the narratives i've gathered around historically-significant architectural building elements or artifacts in the bldg. 51...
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. the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to...
i like to think of myself as a “watchdog” of sorts, especially when it comes to changes and transitions performed on downtown chicago’s historic buildings. while deeply engaged in surveying late 19th and early 20th century facade ornamentation, a comprehensive and ongoing photographic project, i noticed...
historically important building artifacts and winslow catalog images courtesy of the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive. chicago stock exchange building, adler & sullivan, architects. isabella building, william le baron jenney, architect schlesinger and meyer building, louis h. sullivan, architect fisher building, daniel burnham, architect ...
the bldg. 51 museum recently secured an original and largely intact louis sullivan-designed cast plaster proscenium vault "star-pod" panel salvaged from adler & sullivan's garrick theater auditorium during its demolition in early 1961. originally named the schiller theater, the building was designed by louis sullivan and...
i distinctly recall the afternoon in 2011 i spent wandering through henry i. cobb's 1893 chicago athletic association building and neighboring annex (schmidt, garden & martin) with a large group of investors, developers, architects, and designers hell bent on converting the buildings into a boutique...
in addition to the week's acquisition of plaster frieze work from frank lloyd wright's dana-thomas house, the bldg. 51 museum has obtained numerous historically important fragments of plasterwork from adler & sullivan's garrick theater auditorium. originally named the schiller theater, the building was designed...
on an exceptionally gloomy day late last week i was feeling the dismal ambiance of both my mind and the weather, when seemingly out of the blue i was gifted a louis h. sullivan-designed staircase newel post from the chicago stock exchange building. the artifact...
even as greater attention has been directed toward endangered 19th century wood-framed chicago cottages, there has been a dearth of conversation around the looming threat toward wood-framed commercial structures. a steady stream of demolition permits continues to painfully destroy the integrity of enough neighborhoods across...
i spent the greater part of my afternoon - away from shop and studio - to photodocument a largely intact post-fire )1872-1874) wood-framed workers cottage (located in old town) as it was quickly reduced to rubble in a matter of hours. the very first image,...
up close and personal: a photographic study of congress theater's diverse, richly detailed, and nicely weathered surfaces, part one. ...
having recently unearthed a time capsule from the cornerstone of the holy bethel church at adams and damen, my attention wandered to other cornerstones in the bldg. 51 collection, and in particular, the fragment of the cornerstone pictured on the cover of the building 51...
this post concerns an entire city block, containing a collection of historically significant post-fire "athens marble" italianate style rowhouses. each has witnessed fires, neglect, utter abandonment, and demolition since the houses were completed in 1874. in these rather depressing "ruins," i could only catch a glimpse...
an excavation site just west of the m. schultz company piano factory and showroom (erected in 1889) yielded several artifacts spanning several decades. the earliest identifiable object was a small dark amber glass fragment with an embossed letter that once belonged to a quart-sized william...
the following photographic images (taken over a course of three months) provide a highly detailed visual record of the two matching fully functional extant interior congress theater lobby cast brass and wrought ornamental chandeliers. remarkably, the gargantuan "electric candle" ceiling fixtures with dual-colored art cathedral glass globes...
long after the hodgepodge of 19th and 20th century buildings forming the ace hardware on ashland were demolished last year, excavation work finally began. multiple machines dug deep below grade in preparation for the foundation work of a new development, and just a few days later i...
looking over the work i've managed to post, coupled with a seemingly endless list of unpublished "drafts" for 2017 alone, i'm increasingly convinced i'm a good candidate for karoshi. it looks like a sabbatical is on the horizon...
a pair of leaded glass windows original to the henry babson house (salvaged before its demolition in 1960) were purchased for the bldg. 51 museum this month. since i only aimed to acquire a single window for the museum, the counterpart made its way to...