28 Jul

Posted at 15:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

Deconstructing Early Chicago Saturday October 17 & Sunday October 18, 2015 9:00am-5:00pm Coach House of Glessner House Museum 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616 Free Admission Clarke House Museum and Building 51 Museum will partner to present a special exhibition of early Chicago building fragments and systems on display in the historic...

27 Jul

Posted at 17:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

portable fire escapes date back to 18th century england, where in 1784, daniel maseres invented a machine simply called a "fire escape," a device fastened to the window of a building that would enable a person to descend to the street without injury. abraham wivell created an...

21 Jul

Posted at 22:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

prior to visiting this site, i had only seen it in pictures, by way of google street view. despite toggling back and forth between images of the house between 2007-2014 on google's "timeline," it was difficult to ascertain stylistic features or architectural characteristics that would provide better...

21 Jul

Posted at 14:39h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions 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 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

20 Jul

Posted at 13:01h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

urban remains carries a vast selection of "portable" fairies lighting fixtures spanning from the company's founding in the late 19th century to the 1950's. from patented bracketed wall and ceiling fixtures, to table lamps and shades, we offer some of the very best lighting (in some...

14 Jul

Posted at 17:51h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions 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 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

08 Jul

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

it was surprisingly challenging to put together a collection of images designed to provide the reader with a visual synopsis of all the work that transpired at the chicago athletic club association building over the past few years. with over 10,000 images captured and tucked away on hard...

07 Jul

Posted at 16:03h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages 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 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

04 Jul

Posted at 00:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

every time i entered one of the many mammoth industrial melt, machine or forge "shops" located throughout the sprawling a. finkl & sons chicago foundry complex, i could not help but look up in awe. high above rested remarkably antiquated overhead cranes designed to to move...

02 Jul

Posted at 14:47h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

pictured below: a very well-maintained example of early steel office furniture in the form of a joseph uhl-designed switchboard operator's adjustable height mobile chair with the highly sought after oxidized copper-plated finish largely intact. identified by period catalogs as "model 511," this remarkable patented pressed, folded and...

01 Jul

Posted at 07:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

with the ten year anniversary of urban remains rapidly approaching, i've taken a considerable amount of time to reflect on where i began and where i'm going. dwelling more on the former for the time-being, i'm looking through hundreds of pictures taken when i first started salvaging...

30 Jun

Posted at 17:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

investigating a near west side chicago site, i discovered some history through researching nineteenth century maps. according to an 1886 e. robinson's atlas (sanborn insurance) map of chicago (lots 14-17), a large parking lot that was recently excavated used to be a huge coal yard surrounded by several...

26 Jun

Posted at 17:12h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions 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, 600 item...

25 Jun

Posted at 12:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

beginning monday, i found myself documenting a dig site where a prototypical late 19th century graystone two-flat  (demolished earlier this year) once resided. with the exception of  an early 1880's cobalt john a. lomax hutchinson unearthed at the front of the lot, a surprisingly large assortment...

23 Jun

Posted at 13:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

long ago when i studied the chicago world's fair or "columbian exposition" of 1893 i wondered what, if anything, remained from the "white city" long after it was burned down and/or demolished. where did all the statues go? the lamp posts? [gallery columns="4" ids="10798,10799,10794,10795"] like many others,...

23 Jun

Posted at 10:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

once again i arrived on another heneghan wrecking job site (my crew and i recently completed salvage work at the a. finkl & sons foundry and the howard johnson excavation site) where a massive wooden rood truss warehouse constructed in 1918 was undergoing demolition. [gallery ids="10449,10455,10454,10456,10464,10452"] when the demolition permit...

23 Jun

Posted at 10:04h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions 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, 400 item...

22 Jun

Posted at 18:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i've amassed this large collection of antique chicago-based bottles (mainly "soda" or "mineral water") through auctions, excavation sites, privies, and private collectors over the past 8 months. with the "unearthing chicago" book taking shape, i'm scrambling to find many more bottles to fill in many...

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