22 Feb

Posted at 18:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

photographic images of washingtion porter's beloved kiosk sphinx (louis i. simon, architect), located at 4043 lake park avenue, chicago, il. designed in egyptian revivalstyle to showcase porter's antique collection, it featured a 15-story observation tower visible from lake shore drive, intended to be topped with a...

17 Feb

Posted at 18:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Travel by

mecca flats was a notable apartment complex in chicago's bronzeville neighborhood, serving as an architectural and cultural landmark from 1891 until its demolition in 1952. the site at 3360 s. state street is now occupied by s.r. crown hall, a modernist structure designed by ludwig...

12 Feb

Posted at 16:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Uncategorized by

slowly but surely swift mansion rising from the ashes. recent images of fire-damaged edward morris house or swift mansion (1892, willett and pashley, architects), located at 4500 south michigan avenue, chicago, il. i've been documenting the house since a disastrous fire struck in december of 2023. additional images...

06 Feb

Posted at 17:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized 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 in feburary of 2026. the image gallery below offers a preview of bldg. 51’s latest acquisitions: images courtesy of eric...

05 Feb

Posted at 04:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Travel, Uncategorized by

original and largely intact 1962 marina city (bertrand goldberg, 1964-68) prospectus showcasing the building’s distinctive architectural elements with floor plans, site layouts, models, and photographs. the uniquely designed prospectus includes an embossed cover, saddle-stitched booklet with varied paper types, a fold-out building model, blank rental applications,...

04 Feb

Posted at 16:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

recently digitized, original 1930s grant mason and gilman lane interior and exterior snapshot photos of frank lloyd wright's roloson houses (1894) at 3213-3219 s. calumet ave., chicago, il, are now available through the bld. 51 museum and archive. a small collection of digitized images provided...

03 Feb

Posted at 15:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

several architectural elements from d.h. burnham and company's fisher building (1896) and addition (1907) were recently purchased for the bld. 51 museum collection and archive. highlights include, but not limited to, a cast iron winslow brothers lobby level elevator floor indicator panel with opposed figural...

02 Feb

Posted at 18:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Travel, Uncategorized by

the 1893 pabst pavilion, designed by otto strack for chicago’s world's columbian exposition, was a terra-cotta structure with a green copper dome and glass corners showcasing beer products. its highlight was a 13-square-foot 24 karat gold-plated cast bronze and white metal pabst brewery model executed...

22 Jan

Posted at 16:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Travel, Uncategorized by

the bldg. 51 museum collection recently acquired additional historically important redl slip terra cotta ornament from milwaukee’s former main passenger rail station, the chicago & north western lake front depot. designed by charles sumner frost in a romanesque style, the brick and terra cotta-clad depot...

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...

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