21 Jan

Posted at 18:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Travel, Uncategorized by

for almost three decades, i've driven past this small polychromatic art deco terra cotta storefront, always expecting it to disappear before my next visit. thankfully, it still stands and remains largely intact. the two-story hugo miller-designed wile building (1923, rebuilt 1928) is located at 1211-13 west...

15 Jan

Posted at 18:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

several boxes of original louis h. sullivan-designed chicago stock exchange building custom door hardware were obtained for the bld. 51 museum and archive - all of it salvaged by three oaks wrecking company. the plethora of historically important hardware had been in storage since the...

10 Jan

Posted at 19:52h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

the bld. 51 museum and archive recently obtained original, historically significant terra cotta panels and fragments from burnham and root's 1887 rookery building facade in downtown chicago, recovered during repairs performed over the last few decades. like many 19th- and early 20th-century terra cotta-clad commercial...

07 Jan

Posted at 17:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

a set of newly discovered oversized mounted james w. taylor construction photographic prints of william le baron jenney's leiter ii building (1891) located at 401 south state street, chicago, il., have joined the bldg. 51 museum archive. the digitized sepia-toned photographic prints by notable 19th...

06 Jan

Posted at 16:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Travel, Uncategorized by

recent images (1-5-2025) of frank lloyd wright's joseph jacob walser junior house (1903), located at 42 north central avenue, chicago, il. the j. j. walser jr. house is a prairie style home at 42 north central avenue in the austin neighborhood of chicago, illinois. designed by...

05 Jan

Posted at 17:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

chicagoan anna jirak krause compiled a detailed and vivid account of the 1933-1934 century of progress international exposition—also known as the chicago world's fair—through a souvenir album containing pages of handwritten notes and attached ephemera. this album represents one of the most comprehensive first-hand records documenting...

02 Jan

Posted at 06:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press by

the bldg. 51 archive (led by its owner, eric j. nordstrom) has devoted nearly several years to painstakingly build a thoroughly researched and systemattically organized database pertaining to the universe of downtown chicago's commerical buildings dating from its pioneer days to the present. the database contains...

01 Jan

Posted at 16:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Sales and Promotions, Salvages, Travel, Uncategorized by

note: the following links represent some highlights accomplished in 2024. the posts are arranged chronologically, from beginning of 2025 to end of year. as 2025 draws to a close, i culled the the work of eric j. nordstrom, urban remains, and the bldg. 51 archive to...

01 Jan

Posted at 15:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images represent only a fraction of the bldg. 51 museum archive's massive collection of photographs and related ephemera (e.g., blueprints, drawings, lithographs, building contracts, stationary, etc.) on the construction of city of chicago commercial buildings built between 1850-1990. this is the largest private...

30 Dec

Posted at 19:01h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized by

original signed richard haas painting (1985) of theodore link's gargantuan romanesque style union station headhouse (1894), located at 1820 market street, st. louis, mo. haas's artwork was used for the cover art of barbaralee diamonstein's heavily illustrated 1986 book entitled "remaking america: new uses, old places." backside...

30 Dec

Posted at 17:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

original linen-backed period photographic images of graven and mayger’s mayan revival style 3500-seat fisher theater in albert kahn’s fisher building (1928), located at 3011 west grand blvd., detroit, mi. the theater was completely gutted in 1961 - replacing the auditorium's mayan revival theme with mid-century...

25 Dec

Posted at 02:11h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

a second time capsule buried within the lightly incised lemont limestone cornerstone of the church erected in 1890 and destroyed by fire in 1896, was removed intact earlier this week. once again, the soldered-joint zinc box or time capsule was damaged upon careful removal from...

22 Dec

Posted at 18:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized by

relic house, a historic chicago saloon and restaurant, was built in 1872 from materials salvaged after the great chicago fire of 1871. originally at north park avenue and center street, it later moved near north clark street and lincoln park west. throughout its history, it...

22 Dec

Posted at 17:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized by

three largely intact and original early frank lloyd wright-designed buff-colored sullivanesque terra cotta balusters salvaged from the robert roloson row houses (1894) when the front terraces where dismantled/demolished in the early 1970's were added to the ever-expanding bldg. 51 museum collection. most of the surviving balusters...

21 Dec

Posted at 16:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

an original and largley intact painted cast staff or fibrous plaster frank lloyd wright-designed leafage panel salvaged from the william h. winslow house (1894) during renovations was added to bld. 51 museum collection earlier this week. the chocolate brown colored fragment features all over leafage...

12 Dec

Posted at 15:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

gargantuan salesman sample. bdg. 51 museum secures historically important oversized lincoln memorial building (1909) polychromatic glazed terra cotta panel sculpted by kristian schneider for the american terra cotta company, crystal lake, il. the hand-applied polychromatic glazed terra cotta panel was created as a promotional tool (displayed in...

20 Nov

Posted at 17:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

unedited 2008 interior salvage images of d.h. burnham and company's 21-story continental and commercial national bank building (1914), located at 208 south lasalle street, chicago, il. as i continue to stitch together bits and pieces of prior salvage experiences i often fall victim to a dense...

18 Nov

Posted at 16:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a collection of original and historially important late 19th and early 20th century 8 x 10 glass plate negatives of seldom seen interior views of both northwestern terra cotta company and the american terra cotta company modeling rooms featuring sullivanesque style building ornament - both...

17 Nov

Posted at 14:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

"phoenix rises." rare photographic prints of downtown chicago's "burnt district" taken after the great chicago fire of 1871. the albumen prints demonstrate how quickly chicago began to rebuild itself after the great conflagration fueled by the extensive use of salvaged building materials (i.e., brick, iron, etc.) ...

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