09 Feb

Posted at 20:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

with "unearthing chicago" (a bldg. 51 publication) off to the printers, i'm eager to revisit a book project i've had on the back-burner for far too long. after nearly 5 years spent intermittently documenting the henry ives cobb-designed chicago athletic association building (1893), during its remarkable...

05 Feb

Posted at 01:19h in Bldg. 51, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

most of the images, at least the ones taken with my zoom lenses, portray the perforated polychromatic terra cotta panel detail outlining the facade of rapp & rapp's mission revival style central park theater. the linear bands of cream and green-colored terra cotta crisscrossing the...

03 Feb

Posted at 20:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a little over a month into the new year, the bldg. 51 museum has been busy acquiring and cataloging several historically important architectural fragments from chicago's past - salvaged from buildings demolished long ago. perhaps the most important acquisition is a rare cast aluminum elevator...

27 Jan

Posted at 17:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

this stereoview captures both a chaotic and energized street scene deep within the former "burnt district" along lasalle street, less than 2 years after the great fire of 1871. the stereoview (which enhanced the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis, or...

24 Jan

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

the bldg. 51 museum, comprised of fragments from chicago's past, continues to acquire historically important architectural artifacts from the non-extant granada theater, a once a grand movie palace constructed for the marks brothers in 1926. levy and klein were architects of this building, now lost...

23 Jan

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

earlier this week a 19th century residential privy pit or "vault" was discovered during the excavation of a west town neighborhood lot, where a single story framed-wood cottage once stood. just one year ago that residence succumbed to the wrecking ball. the demolition is sharp...

18 Jan

Posted at 15:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

when i visited the congress theater last week, i began by carefully navigating and methodically photo-documenting several deep, dark and dirty plaster and steel-framed cavities and coves high above the theater's cavernous auditorium ceiling. while zigzagging across the original, wobbly wood board catwalks, i distinctly recall being taken...

13 Jan

Posted at 22:47h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

long after the collection of historically-important buildings belonging to rush's hospital campus were reduced to rubble, we received a call from a woman assigned the task of selling and/or discarding the piles of building remnants that had been dropped at a desolate storage yard shortly...

12 Jan

Posted at 21:19h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

with so many architectural artifacts, medical and industrial objects, signage and everything else in between, it's becoming increasingly difficult to continue listing new items on a daily basis. in 2017 however, we have brought onboard additional staff to ensure  at least ten new items are...

12 Jan

Posted at 10:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

an incredible discovery, documented shortly after demolition work was finished for the day. the oculus was found intact behind the bricked-in wall. the unusual number of muntins (and "hub") suggests an automobile wheel, which was a popular motif was used in other buildings along logan...

06 Jan

Posted at 16:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

some of the first hidden and/or forgotten remnants recovered in the first part of 2017, came from the ground, discovered in one of the many forgotten city dumps that dot the cityscape. the dump contained piles upon piles of leather shoe soles, caked with a wretched...

04 Jan

Posted at 04:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

a blog entry posted two weeks ago provided extensive documentation pertaining to the careful extraction of the former milwaukee avenue motor sales building's (more commonly known as the "mega mall") roofline ornamental terra cotta urns. beginning last last week, demolition was underway - to my...

03 Jan

Posted at 06:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

widow and socialite ann halsted commissioned adler & sullivan to build her understated gold coast mansion at 440 w. beldan ave. in 1884.  sullivan’s trademark ornaments are diminished to an elaborate cornice and bay windows. in halsted’s own words, she wanted the house to have...

28 Dec

Posted at 19:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

this december the bldg. 51 museum collection received a welcome, but unexpected boost in inventory of historically important chicago building terra cotta. the majority of the exterior ornament salvaged over the years hailed from buildings no longer with us. one particular piece carries great significance for...

27 Dec

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

i was pleasantly surprised and utterly delighted when a good friend of mine gave me an original two-tone mosaic tile floor segment from one of two schiller building (garrick theater) staircase landings, discovered by nickel et al. in may of 1960 - shortly before the building...

23 Dec

Posted at 21:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

we have spent most of the week now carefully extracting ornamental terra cotta from the facade of the "mega mall," which was built between 1921-1923 as an automobile showroom or dealership for chevrolet. the unusually colored exterior ornament with mottled finish was fabricated by the american...

22 Dec

Posted at 03:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

another physically and emotionally draining  year has drawn to a close, but the ungodly amount of projects have left a heap of photographic images, documents, and artifact extractions waiting to be transformed into blog posts, exhibits, lectures, and narratives, that will carry into 2017 and perhaps...

19 Dec

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

the bldg. 51 american architectural artifact museum recently acquired several r.r. donnelley printing plant (extant) ornamental terra cotta exterior shields featuring richly colored polychromatic finishes. fabricated by the midland terra cotta (chicago, ills.), the shields adorned the exterior facade of the massive printing facility, considered the...

14 Dec

Posted at 20:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

in a previous post, the bldg. 51 museum acquired a unique and highly figurative terra cotta rondel that was positioned between the spandrels on the exterior of the sullivan-inspired late 19th century st. boniface school building (demolished in the 1990's). late last week several pallets of...

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