the assemblage of photographic images shown in the gallery below offer a glimpse of my most recent visit (two consecutive days of shooting) to the notable a. finkl & sons chicago foundry that is rapidly being taken apart and discarded by several on-site excavators operated by...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 23, 200 item...

earlier this week urban remains came across a treasure trove of chicago public school science classroom anatomical models, charts and posters, fossils and other interesting specimens. the images below provide a small sampling of the acquisitions that have been photographed and added to the website.    the images...

after thoroughly documenting and/or collecting any and all data from wood beam sill plate corners from various 19th century chicago residences, i'm trying to determine what to do with them since i have nearly 100 individual specimens finished in a nearly identical manner to the...

for the past few months i have been exchanging emails with marty uhl, the grandchild of clement uhl, who with his brother joe, founded the toledo metal furniture company in 1903. for the next several decades, their "uhl art steel" furniture would find its way...

the mounted albumen print features the non-extant telegraph block building, located in thomaston, maine.  the 1865 photographic print clearly depicts multiple businesses represented in part, by the variety of exterior hanging trade signs, which took many forms in early america. when education was a privilege and...

the recent removal of a depression era three-phase alternating current gantry crane switchboard, outfitted with an oversized trumball 3-pole knife switch, injected me with newly found inspiration to revisit an otherwise largely dormant interest in acquiring any and all electrical apparatus revolving around building "power plants." i...

the photographic essay below offers a brief glimpse at a day of savaging artifacts during a single afternoon at a chicago area standard oil (of indiana) brick factory building constructed as a distribution and handling center for several decades. the building is set to be demolished...

demolition of the downtown chicago howard johnson inn, constructed in the late 1960's, is nearly complete. in preparation high-rise development that will be constructed on the site (located at the corner of la salle and superior), the wrecker has spent the past few weeks systematically "potholing" the...

last night i finished editing images of two incredible artifacts carefully removed the a. finkl & sons foundry. both depression-era artifacts join the ever-growing number of antique american industrial objects and furniture being salvaged from this notable sprawling chicago industrial complex. before being taken down and brought...

as part of our ongoing salvage efforts at a notable chicago foundry complex, we finally gained access to yet another building on the sprawling industrial campus; the building formerly served as a distribution center for standard oil of indiana. there, we discovered several matching, unusually-shaped dirk saaf-designed...

i'm am so utterly exhausted from keeping up with documenting the alarming rate of inner-city demolitions happening week after week, despite redefining my eligibility parameters for seeking study materials from 19th century wood-framed chicago houses within my study period. extracting samples of wood lath, segments of joists and studs,...

the gallery below represents one of my many sub-collections with a focus on early american signs (both vitreous or porcelain and baked-on enameled) that would be found in factory settings dotting the urban landscape. i selected these signs based on their subject matter, characteristic surface wear, rarity...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 23,100 item mark. the...

over the past two weeks urban remains has acquired several depression-era interior illuminated exit light wall sconces and ceiling light fixtures salvaged mostly from extant commercial structures that performed upgrades long ago.  the majority of the single electric exit lights are equipped with brilliantly colored ruby red...

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