09 Dec

Posted at 08:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

earlier this month, two nearly identical, museum-quality cast plaster interior residential ceiling medallions salvaged by richard nickel in 1968 were recently added to the bldg. 51 museum collection. the remarkable solid plaster ceiling medallions or rosettes were designed by louis h. sullivan for the louis...

22 Nov

Posted at 20:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

after spending the day engaging with people over my pop-up exhibition of "fragments from chicago's past," i brought some of the architectural artifacts to my studio to photograph before they return to the bldg. 51 museum. i cleaned, documented, and photographed each and every fragment, both...

18 Nov

Posted at 16:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

after spending an afternoon a few ago photographing the facade of the congress theater, combined with revisiting nortown theater ornament i salvaged in 2007, and researching the architectural firm of rapp and rapp for an upcoming exhibit i'm putting together on "artifacts from atmospheric theaters,"...

16 Nov

Posted at 21:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the architectural firm of rapp and rapp, consisting of brothers cornelius ward rapp and george leslie rapp (founded in 1907), was widely considered to be one of the leading designers of the great movie palaces constructed during the early 20th century. the firm designed over 400...

15 Nov

Posted at 14:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i spent the afternoon last week helping my friend tim samuelson transport an ornamental terra cotta figural rondel head salvaged from sullivan & adler's schiller building (garrick theater) to be repaired by another mutual friend, mike gruzca, in preparation for an upcoming exhibit. gruzca is...

11 Nov

Posted at 03:43h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

after keeping a watchful eye on the post-fire richard maurice birdsall cottage since the day it was handed a death sentence earlier this summer, the moment finally arrived when the wrecking machine was delivered to 1241 n. state street. less than 24 hours later, a cottage...

09 Nov

Posted at 06:16h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

when i pulled up to the site, to document and extract park view church's time capsule, all that remained standing of this gargatuan gothic-style bedford limestone church was a portion of the exterior facade. the zettler windows had been carefully removed by us a...

09 Nov

Posted at 05:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

nearly a week after spending several consecutive days devoted to carefully and painstakingly extracting "munich style" art glass windows executed by f.x. zettler and drehobl brothers, i'm still incredibly exhausted and applying copious amount of tiger balm to my arms to ease the pain and...

05 Nov

Posted at 17:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

once again i took the time to carefully extract, thoroughly clean, and reassemble the floor boards of an 1860's-era chicago cottage privy vault. the sanitary pit was covered over long ago, as indoor plumbing was becoming more readily available during the late 19th century. the house's...

01 Nov

Posted at 20:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

i was already stressed and exhausted from pulling the last of the zettler-signed "munich" style windows from the park view lutheran church's interior (1929) , when i was forced to pause for an hour as a wrecking machine nearby began pulling down the facade of the...

26 Oct

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

for the past two weeks i've devoted nearly every afternoon methodically and painstakingly extracting any and all art glass windows from the soon-to-be-demolished gothic style park view lutheran church featuring an indiana blue limestone facade and single bell tower topped by a an unusual oversized...

18 Oct

Posted at 19:44h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

below, are just a few examples of hundreds of fireplace mantels, coal baskets, gas inserts, and summer covers available for sale through the end of this week. any and all category items have been discounted. click here to be redirected to the sale category. ...

18 Oct

Posted at 02:50h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts salvaged and/or acquired and posted in the urban remains massive website catalog (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one...

14 Oct

Posted at 21:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i was called to examine a desolate triangular-shaped parcel of land being excavated on the near north side shortly after i completed documenting the soon-to-be demolished art deco style 1930's ornamental limestone facade concealing "buddy's parking garage" on clark street (images highlighting the exterior decorative elements will be...

08 Oct

Posted at 21:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the following compilation of images were taken from various chicago excavations - both commercial and residential over the past few weeks.  the wide range of objects or artifacts recovered (and in many cases documented in the studio) include 19th century wood "pilings" once supporting a...

05 Oct

Posted at 04:18h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts salvaged and/or acquired and posted in the urban remains massive website catalog (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one...

29 Sep

Posted at 17:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a theater-related acquisition this week joins the bldg. 51 collection, as a rare remnant of restoration efforts that took place at the iconic chicago theater over twenty years ago. the highly ornate floral terra cotta fragments were fabricated by boston valley, the decorative cream-colored terra...

22 Sep

Posted at 21:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

two 19th century houses were handed the death sentence earlier this week. the late 1890' two-flat with rusticated stone arches on george street (see below) has already been pulled apart and trucked off. the second house (1880-1884), replete with pressed ornamental brick, rusticated stone, and exceptional...

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