BLDG51. News and Events |

10 Feb the bldg. 51 museum building artifact printed book available in march of 2015

Posted at 13:21h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

in the next 3-4 weeks, the printed version of the highly anticipated bldg. 51 museum building artifact book will be available for purchase. copies of the profusely illustrated, full color book will be available at the urban remain's store and/or can be ordered online through...

10 Feb industrial furniture, iron-pontiled bottles, hardware, and an authentic chicago street light added this week

Posted at 02:41h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts 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 22, 000 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

10 Feb salvaged “new old stock” art deco machine age chicago back bar glass rods available free of charge

Posted at 02:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

UPDATE AS OF 2024: this was posted 9 YEARS AGO. apologies, but we no longer have any left! fortunately, there are a surprisingly healthy supply of original depression-era american streamlined style back bars that remain in use and well-maintained in chicago area bars. a few of...

10 Feb an endless fascination with the morphological characteristics and crudities of 19th century bottles

Posted at 02:20h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

identifying any and all morphological properties of these mid-19th century bottles (see below) remain difficult to nail down, considering that the experimental fabrication methodologies were performed by the lungs and hands of the glassmith or blower, apprentices and children under dire conditions were output meant...

04 Feb revisiting the former site of the john kent russell house during its excavation

Posted at 10:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

even with the historically important john kent russell house having been demolished last summer, i have revisited the vacant site time and again to freely explore and ultimately unearth any and all artifacts left behind by the numerous occupants that called this place "home" since...

04 Feb salvage work at the 500 milwaukee avenue building complex has finally begun

Posted at 03:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

despite the brutally cold weather and piles of snow every which way, we made our way to the interconnected cluster of gray painted buildings (nine of the eleven bearing historic significance to one degree or another), formerly used to house a vast array of restaurant...

03 Feb urban remains to salvage cluster of gray buildings (500-504 n. milwaukee avenue) facing demolition in coming weeks

Posted at 02:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the unusual collection of neglected and largely abandoned gray-painted buildings located at the intersection of grand, halsted and milwaukee, will be demolished in the coming weeks. urban remains will begin salvaging any and all interior and exterior ornament (the latter during the demolition phase), beginning tomorrow...

30 Jan several sets of early 20th century chicago area factory refinished cast iron machine bases recently added to urban remains’s website

Posted at 01:01h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

over the past few weeks we have been acquiring a sizable number of completely refinished american cast iron industrial machine bases salvaged from chicago area recently shuttered chicago area factories. the matching sets of bases available on the urban remains's website have been thoroughly cleaned and...

28 Jan remarkable walnut wood staircase salvaged from the joseph t. ryerson mansion (1873)

Posted at 10:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

this opulent post-fire chicago mansion, located north of the river on wabash avenue (formerly cass street) near ontario, was built for pioneer steel king joseph t. ryerson in 1873, at an estimated cost of 50,000 dollars by architects burling and adler. the successful industrialist established his...

27 Jan several newly acquired artifacts from residential salvages, privy pits and factories added this week

Posted at 13:35h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

26 Jan demystifying the history behind a two-story wood frame cottage during its demolition

Posted at 19:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

there wasn't anything (i.e., exterior or interior architectural artifacts) worth salvaging from this rather humdrum looking 19th century two-story wood frame cottage during a walk-through days before demolition was to begin. regardless, a few days later i returned and spent the greater part of an...

21 Jan looking back at metropolitan hall (pabst tavern) through three panes of colored cathedral glass

Posted at 01:35h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

just the other day i was reorganizing some of the artifacts in my "sentimental" storage boxes housed in my personal collection. most of the diminutive artifacts date back to 2000-2005, when i was still employed as a research scientist, but living a dichotomous lifestyle where...

19 Jan iron-pontiled privy dug bottles, machine bases and electrical devices added to the website this week

Posted at 16:49h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

16 Jan finding benefits in a missed residential salvage opportunity

Posted at 14:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

on the way to inspect two 19th century residences that are facing the backhoe next week, i stumbled across a nearly completed demolition of a two-story brick residence located west of the urban remains warehouse and showroom. after doing a little research, i managed to pinpoint...

14 Jan several more artifacts unearthed at the “big dig” site earlier this week

Posted at 15:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

despite the brutally cold weather, i began the work week at the "big dig" site with the hopes that we would discover a wood-lined privy towards the back of the two remaining (unexcavated) lots. immediately upon arriving at the site, the backhoe operator called me...

13 Jan the two year journey of photographing the chicago athletic association building is drawing to a close

Posted at 23:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

after nearly two years of volunteering my time to photodocument the historic chicago athletic association building (the initial walk through was back in early 2013 when aj capital was closing on the property) during its transformation from a dormant and unoccupied building to its gradual...

12 Jan some of the most recent artifacts added to urban remains website categories

Posted at 01:51h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

10 Jan three 19th century brick-lined privy pits yield very little, but digging will continue on next week

Posted at 23:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

with demolitions currently in a holding pattern, i shifted my focus back on the "big dig" site located on the west side of chicago. despite the fact that i have unearthed several artifacts (e.g., bottles and common household fragments) dating from the 1880's to the...

07 Jan great chicago fire “souvenir” medal struck from salvaged bronze bell of osdel-designed city hall (1853)

Posted at 10:51h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i stumbled across a rather interesting and historically-important artifact the other week in the form of a pocket-sized "souvenir" medal, representing the first anniversary of the disastrous conflagration known simply as the "great chicago fire" of 1871. the unique and diminutive artifact is commonly referred as...

06 Jan remembering the non-extant matthew uhl rowhouse (1871) through the discovery of a newel post

Posted at 13:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

over the christmas holiday we visited family and friends in my hometown of la crosse wisc. during our stay, and like others past, i managed to find time to photograph the ever-changing urban landscape (including an old train yard) in and around the downtown area. quite...