16 Apr

Posted at 15:39h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

while looking for a hopkins and dickenson doorknob the other day, i ran across several boxes of "personal collection" 19th century builders' hardware i've had stowed away for years. when i pull the lid from the first container, i immediately recognized doorknobs from the william...

16 Apr

Posted at 14:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

when companies are contracted by the city to demolish and replace structurally unsound vaulted sidewalks, their saw-cutting methods typically go beyond the curb and well into the street. the work continues with subsequent digging in and around the street, involving the removal of several inches...

10 Apr

Posted at 21:36h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several "after sunset" fixtures were removed from an art modern house undergoing renovations late last week. the american art deco depression era fixtures were designed and fabricated by or for the lightolier corp., jeannette, pennsylvania. the super streamlined machine age electric fixtures are comprised largely of...

04 Apr

Posted at 21:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

after slowing down some, i find myself deeply immersed again in the "unearthing chicago" project long after i finished cataloging several extensively archived chicago dig sites for the soon-to be-published "unearthing chicago" book (bldg. 51 museum press) due out this year. like any other project i've...

29 Mar

Posted at 22:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

the bldg. 51 museum has recently assembled several architectural artifacts from buildings (demolished or heavily altered/modified) designed by henry ives cobb for an upcoming exhibit highlighting his work. an exceptionally well-made and intricately designed late 19th or early 20th century american gothic style interior ornamental...

27 Mar

Posted at 00:42h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i was taken aback when i discovered a seemingly endless field of debris (several decades worth) covering the floor of a gargantuan plenum duct running under the congress theater's auditorium floor. i spent a good deal of time combing through piles of candy wrappers, matchbooks,...

22 Mar

Posted at 18:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the relentless search to aquire, identify, and document historically important remnants from chicago building demolished or altered has greatly assisted in driving the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive's sustained momentum and/or growth in the new year. while the museum's core mission remains sharply focused on...

22 Mar

Posted at 18:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired an exceptional, copper-plated ornamental figural cast iron elevator panel and full-bodied eagle (the latter is an attribution) rescued from henry ives cobb's downtown chicago chicago federal building (1898), prior to its demolition in 1965. the single-sided eagle panel was originally apart...

21 Mar

Posted at 19:29h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

a vast collection of 19th century exterior dearborn foundry newel posts, tuttle & bailey floor registers, and miscellaneous ornamental ironwork hand-crafted by f.p. smith was recently acquired by urban remains earlier this week. the american victorian-era interior and exterior residential ironwork was salvaged from demolished...

15 Mar

Posted at 21:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired yet another, well-executed full-scale alfonso iannelli-designed midway gardens figural head - cast from a plaster mold taken directly off the only known surviving fragment rescued from the massive "cube" fountain housed within frank lloyd wrights 1914 midway garden's indoor entertainment complex (demolished...

15 Mar

Posted at 14:46h in Events & Announcements, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the following images represent a small sampling of artifacts and/or objects added to the urban remains catalog within recent weeks. in addition, we have discounted several items within the collection, so please revisit your "wishlists" and/or search the catalog for sale items. ...

14 Mar

Posted at 09:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

remnants from the site of a short-lived druggist's pharmacy (1872-1874) were discovered under a downtown chicago parking ramp (since demolished). during excavation in preparation for new development, machine operator john propeck unearthed nearly 30 (mostly broken) stephen israel mineral water bottles lying against a foundation...

14 Mar

Posted at 03:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

after nearly ten years, i was delighted to finally come across a catalog that definitively identifies the fabricator behind a small collection of stamped steel or tin "sullivanesque" style ceiling panels i've had in my possession all these years. this was one of the more substantial discoveries of the week, so...

03 Mar

Posted at 16:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

  once again i managed to reserve some time for congress's theaters dark, cavernous attic space when i revisited the theater last week to resume documenting the interior and exterior before its its extensive overhaul gets underway. almost immediately after entering the attic, i discovered a heavily-used...

03 Mar

Posted at 05:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

last year i devoted a great deal of my time documenting 19th chicago workers cottages built before and after the great chicago fire of 1871. thankfully, the majority of the houses i photographically surveyed were not threatened with demolition, espeically on the north side of chicago, just...

02 Mar

Posted at 03:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the full-figured terra cotta eagles (american terra cotta company) and the largely unornamented shields they're perched on, were carefully removed from the towering gothic style arched buick automobile showroom's main entrance, designed by notable chicago architect clarence hatzfeld in 1921. the tan-colored, mottled glazed terra...

24 Feb

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

shortly before the michael brand brewery complex was slated for demolition, i made my way over there with the hopes of documenting the few buildings left standing. after speaking with, and later earning the trust of the owner (his family's rubber works business had been...

14 Feb

Posted at 19:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i've noticed more and more cold-rolled steel or iron porcelain enameled advertising signs being dug from both commercial and residential excavation sites across chicago over the past few months. nearly all of the signs unearthed are heavily corroded with the polychromed enameled finish faded, but...

12 Feb

Posted at 06:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a sizable collection of all original illuminated interior wall-mount lobby bronze meta elevator "signal lanterns" or indicators were salvaged from the historically important, towering 38-story graham, anderson, probst, white-designed foreman-national bank building during a nearly completed overhaul of the "lasalle canyon" skyscraper's interior. the extant foreman...

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