BLDG51. News and Events |

10 Dec salvaging building materials from an 1870’s chicago two-story worker’s cottage

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

as a late 1870's two story worker's cottage is rapidly being transformed into a growing pile of splintered old growth wood, i managed to work around the ongoing chaos and extract several intact building components that were used to build this modest 19th century hybrid...

09 Dec newly refinished antique medical cabinets, drafting tables and a mechanical clown added this week

Posted at 14:01h in Events & Announcements, 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 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one,...

08 Dec the lewis g. langstaff-designed pressed glass orb liquid dispenser in high demand long after invented

Posted at 18:26h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

more so than ever it seems, we have several clients aggressively seeking out and purchasing any and all of the "beau brummel" liquid soap dispensers made available on the urban remains website. long ago, we acquired a sizable quantity from one of our sources (outside...

07 Dec incredibly rare and very important patinated copper frank lloyd wright-designed weed holders go to auction

Posted at 17:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF "WEED" VASES Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 USD IMPORTANT 20TH CENTURY DESIGN 17 DECEMBER 2014 | 2:00 PM EST NEW YORK FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF "WEED" VASES patinated copper 29 1/8 in. (74 cm) high circa 1895-1900 executed by James A. Miller and Brother, Chicago PROVENANCE Cathers & Dembrosky, New York Edgar Smith,...

04 Dec a closer look at a rare bergmann-edison 19th century incandescent electric lamp “moving tongue” socket

Posted at 14:03h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the bergmann socket was designed to be compact and simply constructed with as few parts as possible, including the amount of insulation used and possess a very simple form of "circuit-controller." the stout copper-plated two-part shell or casing, containing several lightly incised patents, conceals the socket,...

03 Dec a weekend afternoon visit to the “burnham, sullivan & wright” exhibit at architech’s gallery

Posted at 10:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i feel very fortunate that we had the opportunity last saturday afternoon to attend the last day of architech gallery owner david jameson's "burnham, sullivan & wright" exhibit. almost immediately upon our entry we received a warm greeting and quick overview from david. i happened...

30 Nov a rare glimpse of early odin j. oyen’s drawings before establishing his decorating firm in la crosse, wisc.

Posted at 02:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

as i continue to systematically document an overwhelming amount of drawings, photographs, artifacts and correspondences revolving around notable artisan odin j. oyen, i felt it was important to share multiple drawings i've gathered thus far that not only shed new light on oyen's work during...

28 Nov a day of salvage and urban archaeological excavation at a 19th century chicago two-flat residence

Posted at 18:48h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

early in the afternoon we arrived at the job site during a momentary pause as the wreckers were refueling their backhoe. we took advantage of that time to quickly assess the unusually large, double lot, containing a single victorian era red brick two-flat residence constructed...

28 Nov newly acquired industrial, medical and architectural artifacts will bolster our existing inventory well into the new year

Posted at 13:33h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the photo gallery below offers numerous 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 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

23 Nov faithfully reproduced chicago athletic assoication building cast plaster “drooping tip” panel installation well underway

Posted at 22:30h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

i finally got the chance to devote a few hours to document any and all changes made to the chicago athletic association building as it continues to move closer to become one of chicago's more distinctive and historic "boutique" hotels (strictly my opinion). changes in the...

14 Nov early industrial furniture salvaged from a recently shuttered chicago area factory

Posted at 03:10h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

between residential salvages we digressed somewhat by spending two days in a recently shuttered chicago area factory, where most of the industrial equipment and/or furniture no longer in use (i.e., lying dormant) dates to 1915-23. the great majority of the factory lockers, stools and miscellaneous...

10 Nov a chicago brick two-flat (1897) and 1880’s wood-frame worker cottage salvage completed

Posted at 15:23h in Bldg. 51, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

from the very beginning of this salvage, the so-called "coach house" (more often referred to as a carriage house), located on the back lot of the property, was the structure that peeked my interest more than the two flat (1897) facing the street. i felt...

07 Nov some highlighted artifacts from this week’s daily additions culled from the urban remains website

Posted at 17:27h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the photo gallery below offers numerous hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (10 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21,000 item mark. the ultimate goal since day...

05 Nov montgomery ward & co. “spirit of progress” building weathervane fragment joins the bldg. 51 museum collection

Posted at 02:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

it's no secret that this gargantuan, riveted joint, wrought bronze metal john massey rhind-designed statue or figural weathervane head fragment was brought to auction by the david v. nelson family, based on all of its recent recognition in local media. however, i was truly surprised and remarkably fortunate...

03 Nov final chapter ends with complete removal of an increasingly rare joliet limestone chicago commercial building facade

Posted at 15:14h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

throughout most of the 19th century joliet's numerous quarries were supplying chicago (and other midwestern cities) with great stone slabs used in the paving of city sidewalks, along with several churches, hotels, banks, warehouses and other types of public buildings. the stone was found just...

29 Oct a sampling of newly acquired inventory added to the urban remains website over the past few days

Posted at 16:36h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

29 Oct a chicago-based residential and commercial 19th century historic building materials database to become website

Posted at 13:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

acquiring louis sullivan and frank lloyd architectural artifacts to bolster the bldg. 51 museum collection is very important to me, and will continue on (likely with the addition of another artifact catalog in the coming years), but as i'm nearing the ten year anniversary of...

29 Oct bottom of the john kent russell wood-lined privy reached: yields hundreds of artifacts

Posted at 09:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

we arrived early in the morning to begin where we left off a few days before. it was hard not to ruminate intensely about the implications of what we would soon discover in the circular-shaped oversized wood-lined privy during that time away. however, with tools...

26 Oct Raising Chicago: An Illustrated History

Posted at 16:08h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous by Eric

In 1855, the city embarked on a far-fetched scheme to hoist itself out of the mud and gunk. On the 155th anniversary of the project’s launch, we take a lively illustrated look back. BY LILLI CARRÉ This article appears in the August 2010 issue of Chicago magazine. Subscribe to Chicago magazine....

23 Oct ongoing excavation efforts at the john kent russell site yields a newly discovered artifact-laden privy

Posted at 15:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

while i patiently wait for the city to issue an excavation permit that will uncover any undiscovered buried remnants from the john kent russell house site before the new foundation is poured, which not only effectively ends my frequent visits to the site, but in...