BLDG51. News and Events |

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...

05 Jan a sampling of salvaged machine age illuminated informational signs acquired over the years

Posted at 13:18h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the photographic image gallery below represents a variety of mostly illuminated depression era informational and/or exit signs salvaged from theaters and commercial buildings across the country. the art deco style "machine age" signs were designed by numerous manufacturers, but identifying them has proved to be somewhat...

02 Jan chicago residential backyard privy pit yields several 19th century “blob top” glass soda bottles

Posted at 17:13h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

a very deep, brick-lined backyard privy pit was discovered on another job site yesterday where the house on the lot was constructed in the late 1880's according to city records. as of late, the brick-lined holes we have come across where originally used as privy...

02 Jan urban remains kicks off the new year with several newly listed items

Posted at 13:10h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this 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 21, 600 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

31 Dec unearthing a former parking lot yields a wealth of artifacts from chicago’s past

Posted at 10:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

beginning last week we were notified of a major excavation where a former parking lot will be redeveloped for condo construction. consisting of several lots, this massive parcel of land once contained multiple brick and wood-framed dwellings, according to sanborn insurance maps dating back to...

31 Dec a “behind the scenes” tour of the henry b. clarke house: chicago’s oldest residence

Posted at 01:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

there is already abundant and easily accessible background information on the henry b. clarke house (1836), one of chicago's earliest extant residential structures-turned museum, so i will avoid the inclusion of details surrounding the history of the house. instead, i will briefly touch upon some of...

30 Dec pontiled bottles tossed from a passing schooner in the early 1850’s discovered at wolf point

Posted at 01:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the focal point of wolf point "part two" moves away from the discovery of several mid-19th century pontiled soda and/or mineral water bottles during excavations in the 1980's, which were retrieved from intact wood-lined privy pits built and later filled by individuals that resided near...

29 Dec assortment of american victorian era “real bronze” hopkins & dickinson’s hardware recently added

Posted at 17:03h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

urban remains recently obtained a sizeable amount of well-maintained and intricately designed "real bronze" interior residential entrance, passage and pocket door hardware designed and fabricated by the hopkins & dickinson mfg. co., new york city, ny. the patterns exhibited in the builders' hardware or "trimmings" was...

23 Dec new york city subway sub-station open or “live” front switchboard with faux marbleized slate panel

Posted at 16:11h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

extraordinary and very rare early 20th century remarkably intact new york city subway sub-station single panel open front switchboard designed and fabricated by the metropolitan electric mfg. co., new york city, ny. metropolitan was founded in 1892 and went on to manufacture electrical equipment in addition...

23 Dec phenomenal acquisition, consisting of several figural anglo-japanese parlor stove majolica tiles, arrived today

Posted at 01:47h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

earlier this afternoon i managed to secure an incredibly huge lot of visually striking and vibrantly colored anglo-japanese style residential parlor stove figural majolica tiles designed and fabricated for notable stove maker, sherman s. jewett & company, buffalo, ny. the exceptionally well-designed glazed ceramic tiles...

22 Dec several new items added to the urban remains website over the weekend

Posted at 14:30h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

20 Dec a mid-19th century soda bottle discovered during excavations at wolf point; more to follow

Posted at 02:14h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i recently acquired a remarkable cobalt blue iron pontil glass soda bottle that was recovered from a wood-lined privy pit dating to the 1850's. interestingly, the bottle is not native to chicago, although other bottles found where identified as chicago-based lomax and competitor hutchinson, who...

19 Dec ultimate victorian steampunk: the 19th century all original commercial “a.b.c” reel or fire hose swing-out bracket

Posted at 15:59h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

this remarkable contraption, comprised of painted iron and wood, is a very early commercial building integrated fire hose reel and swing-out bracket manufactured by or for jno. c.n. guilbert of new york city. the date of fabrication is likely 1895-98. the firefighting device was made available...

18 Dec “bottled in illinois” has proven to be a very resourceful guide to have on hand when digging privy pits

Posted at 22:31h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Sales and Promotions by Eric

a detailed overview of this incredibly resourceful and gargantuan tome is written below by the authors. since purchasing this book, i have it on hand at every jobsite when the demolition phase has concluded and excavation of the lot begins. that way, i can immediately...

17 Dec demolition of heavily modified 1885 chicago brick worker’s cottage well underway

Posted at 10:06h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, Salvages by Eric

late in the afternoon we arrived at the site of a chicago worker's brick cottage constructed in 1885. the exterior had been substantially altered or remodeled over its lifespan, so there wasn't much to salvage in terms of architectural artifacts - both in terms of...

16 Dec remarkable midway gardens alfonso iannelli-designed concrete “sprite” head cast directly from an original

Posted at 15:00h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

very few of the original "sprite" statues adorning midway gardens survived demolition in 1929. the indoor/outdoor entertainment facility was constructed in 1914 with frank lloyd wright as architect. the full-bodied statues were designed and executed by notable industrial designer and sculptor, alfonso iannelli. wright took...

16 Dec a small sampling of newly acquired artifacts added to the urban remains website this week

Posted at 13:05h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

12 Dec stones and signs at the valentin blatz brewing company office building

Posted at 18:07h in Miscellaneous by Eric

i happened upon the valentin blatz brewing company office building as i was leaving milwaukee. the weathered signage on an "outbuilding" prompted me to stop and photograph. my camera quickly moved towards the romanesque style office building constructed in 1890, with paul schnetzky as architect on...