30 Mar

Posted at 09:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

towards the end of the 19th century the building industry began experimenting with aluminum as a decorative ornament, which had only become available through large scale production at beginning in the early 1890's. the first building to incorporate aluminum as a decorative building material in chicago...

15 Mar

Posted at 23:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several original and well-maintained mounted albumen prints of 19th century chicago taken by photographer james w. taylor were acquired by the bldg. 51 archive in mid-february, 2021. nearly a hundred original albumen prints (including, but not limited to, various sizes, mounting formats and year) by...

09 Mar

Posted at 12:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

before its rapid transformation, the “fulton street market” of tech giants and restauranteurs was a quintessential part of chicago’s industrial past, a thriving home to the city’s first century as a gritty, blue collar hub, where food distribution and manufacturing boomed. sadly, as preservation becomes...

02 Mar

Posted at 15:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images represent a well rounded cross section of historically important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum archive as of february, 2021. a more focused and in-depth blog post, with detailed captions, will highlight some...

02 Mar

Posted at 14:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

several amazingly intact post-fire chicago soda "blobtop" smooth base bottles were discovered during excavation of a lot where a wood-frame cottage (1873-1876) once stood. the majority of the bottles unearthed, were made for bottler william h. hutchinson (whh). nearly all of the bottles were found...

24 Feb

Posted at 04:39h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery represents a fraction of 19th and early 20th century american builders' hardware recently added to urban remains website catalog. several examples salvaged from historically important buildings across the country will be added in the coming months as well.  ...

23 Feb

Posted at 23:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images in the gallery below offer a glimpse at any and all artifacts and ephemera pertaining to adler and sullivan's schiller building (later known as dearborn and garrick theater) completed in 1892. the artifacts, including interior and exterior architectural ornament (e.g., terra cotta,...

23 Feb

Posted at 22:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

latest photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey (as of january, 2021) is provided below. the photographic images focus on architectural ornament located on historically important extant buildings located in downtown chicago and surrounding neighborhoods where the historic fabric is largely intact and well-maintained.  among the...

09 Feb

Posted at 06:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

in chicago, the modern preservation movement rose in tandem with the 1950s post-depression era and war renewal program. decentralization, suburbanization, and migration to cities in the us south and west posed a grave threat to chicago’s economy. leaders feared criticism of chicago’s postwar office construction,...

17 Jan

Posted at 22:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

bldg. 51 museum gifted an original early 20th century multi-colored tiled panel salvaged from a chicago comed station demolished long ago. these distinctive tiles panels were used repeatedly on herman von holst's substations in an attempt to beautify otherwise unsightly utilitarian complexes that public utilities magnate...

13 Jan

Posted at 03:38h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of JANUARY,...

12 Jan

Posted at 07:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

original museum-quality 20th century american hexagonal-backed side chair salvaged from the imperial hotel (tokyo, japan), prior to demolition in the late 1960's. the iconic "peacock" side chair was designed by architect frank lloyd wright, with an original drawing for an "overstuffed chair" dating back to...

12 Jan

Posted at 04:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

earlier this afternoon i received a small package containing a historically important relic or "souvenir": a pile of melted or fused threaded screws found in the "burnt district" shortly after the great chicago fire was extinguished in 1871. the screws were likely housed in a box found in...

05 Jan

Posted at 16:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Travel by

the following blog post links arranged in chronological order below offer highlights of the work of eric j. nordstrom, urban remains, and the bldg. 51 museum archive in 2019. over the past few years my work towards creating and/or collaborating with people and organizations deeply...

29 Dec

Posted at 19:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

original lexington hotel (clinton j. warren, 1892) red glazed figural terra cotta loggia corner panel fabricated by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills. the identity of the face is not known. if you look closely, you can see the corner panel in john vinci's kodachrome...

29 Dec

Posted at 18:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

over the course of 2020, the bldg. 51 museum managed to secure several historically important architectural fragments and objects, in addition to the evolving archive, consisting of period photographs, books, documents, drawings, blueprints, models, and other related materials, that will prove invaluable to bolster the...

29 Dec

Posted at 18:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

at the southeast corner of wells and division in chicago’s near north neighborhood, excavation and the choreography of new development have been happening for some time. just last march, ground was broken on the mega-project at atrium village, which will transform a mid-rise residential complex...

14 Dec

Posted at 19:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

archival prints for sale: eric j. nordstrom has recently launched a website category (a dedicated website and gallery to his photography and collection through the bldg. 51 museum will launch in mid-2021) focusing on the art prints for sale in addition to rights-managed architectural stock photography...

14 Dec

Posted at 05:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i spent several hours looking at and digitizing images from richard nickel's chicago stock excange contact sheets the other day. like the garrick, nickel methodically documented each and every detail, including the building's hardware. adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange (1894) was outfitted with sullivan-designed cast...

06 Dec

Posted at 20:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

rare early 20th century comprehensive and profusely illustrated pittsburgh plate glass company's "glass paints, varnishes, and brushes: their history manufacture and use" hardbound book and/or catalog featuring an informative glance at the early beginnings of glassworks, paint development and distribution and the formation and establishment...

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