BLDG51. News and Events |

06 May historically important pre-fire crane brothers factory addition (1870) smashed into oblivion

Posted at 00:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

after returning from my week-long trip to new orleans, i revisited the site of the crane brothers manufacturing factory complex (renamed northwestern manufacturing and then crane mfg. co. shortly after the 1871 great chicago fire). the building that most interested me was one of two pre-fire structures, built in...

05 May late 19th century north side chicago dumpsite yields hundreds of largely intact bottles

Posted at 14:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

[caption id="attachment_20372" align="alignleft" width="900"] rose's product was advertised to contain nearly five pounds of fresh, lean beef in the form of a heavy syrup, priced at one dollar per pound. preston b. rose moved to chicago, where he used his chemistry knowledge to concoct a new...

03 May urban remains salvages crane brothers factory shortly before its demolition

Posted at 17:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

after thoroughly photo-documenting the interior and exterior of the two extant pre-fire crane brothers factory buildings constructed in 1865 and 1870, we were given 1-2 days to extract artifacts that i expressed interest in during a lengthy afternoon of search and discovery. with insurance certificates issued and...

03 May louis j. millet-designed st. louis union station polychromatic canvas frieze panel joins bldg. 51 museum collection

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

as the early 20th century head (roman goddess diana) of montgomery ward's "spirit of progress" joins an exhibition at the chicago cultural center, a new historically-important (with ties to both st. louis and chicago) and finely executed artifact enters the bldg. 51 collection, thanks to...

03 May bldg. 51 acquires fritz albert-designed reebie building egyptian revival terra cotta ornament

Posted at 16:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

an exciting acquisition joining a number of egyptian revival artifacts in the urban remains/ bldg. 51 collection is a brightly colored exterior polychromatic glazed terra cotta window surround cornice segment removed nearly 40 years ago from the historically-important chicago art deco gem known as the reebie storage warehouse,...

20 Apr rare 1850’s teal-colored ainsworth and lomax glass bottle recently unearthed from chicago privy

Posted at 13:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

an excavation at van buren & morgan yielded an interesting find this week, to add to the store of objects comprising a "city beneath the city." unearthed there was an exceptionally rare bottle, one of only three known examples in this color, and the only...

20 Apr wall cavity “insulation” greatly assists in identifying age of 19th century chicago cottages

Posted at 13:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

among the more interesting surprises an old house can hold, insulation is sometimes unearthed during demolition in the form of dated ephemera and materials from a bygone era. the contents found are especially valuable in providing a sturdy timeline during which the house was constructed, especially if found resting on...

20 Apr c. 1926 full-figured granada theater figural statue finally makes its way into the bldg. 51 museum

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

the monumental plaster female statue recently housed in off-site storage, has recently made another move, this time to be in a more secluded, climate-controlled space along with the rest of the bldg. 51 collection. thankfully it is solidly-built, with complete structural integrity to withstand relocation. longtime...

05 Apr unearthing the remains of chicago’s long-abandoned street cable car system

Posted at 13:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by Eric

it seems an appropriate follow-up to a recent san francisco visit to write about having dug a cable or street car artifact near illinois and franklin street which will soon enter the bldg. 51 collection. the finding of the railway component coincides, ironically, with having bought...

04 Apr newly added items from the past week range from factory furnishings to an unusual billiard room light fixture

Posted at 09:03h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

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...

31 Mar turn of the century wrigleyville apartment complex salvaged shortly before demolition last week

Posted at 16:23h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

a three-story early 20th century yellow brick apartment complex, located in the wrigleyville neighborhood of chicago was demolished late last week. thankfully we had a few weeks to prepare and thoroughly salvage architectural elements from the building's interior. the majority of the passage and closet doors...

28 Mar rare all original documented carbon arc spotlight fixture from the non-extant chicago stadium discovered in warehouse

Posted at 14:20h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

among the rare light fixtures housed in the urban remains collection is an early 1920's "arctype"auditorium spotlight lamp, an original fixture which represents lighting technology developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which was replaced by the incandescent spotlight. the carbon arc lamp was the first widely-used...

28 Mar eastlake style hardware, stainless steel medical cabinets, art glass, industrial machine bases recently added to website

Posted at 12:40h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

22 Mar 19th century ferdinand kieckhefer mansion wrought iron railing – executed by cyril colnik – joins bldg. 51 collection

Posted at 23:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

an exceptional and historically important hammered wrought iron railing section, executed by "the tiffany of wrought iron masters" is the latest of the bldg. 51 museum collection's recent acquisitions. the heavily ornamented, strapped and riveted wrought iron artifact was crafted by milwaukee's historic and premier iron worker, cyril...

18 Mar early american machine bases, simmons furniture, chicago stadium artifacts and bank blueprints

Posted at 14:24h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

15 Mar roofline ornament rescued from damen street graystone shortly after demolition permit issued

Posted at 22:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

early in the morning i received notice that a late 19th century two-story graystone was handed a death sentence. after reviewing images of the facade, i was drawn to the matching leaded beveled glass transom windows and roofline ornament consisting of cast iron cresting or...

14 Mar the continued acquisition of historically important chicago architectural artifacts in 2016 greatly enhances bldg. 51 collection

Posted at 13:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

i'm equally surprised and pleased at the sheer number and vast assortment of significant architectural artifacts acquired and/or rediscovered in storage since the beginning of 2016. whether a single sullivan-designed guaranty building doorknob, or a one-of-a-kind hand-stitched nortown theater organ screen fish embellished with sequins, i've...

10 Mar light fixtures, art deco terra cotta, robust butcher block table and confectionery jars added this week

Posted at 18:04h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts acquired and listed on the urban remains website (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 of the...

07 Mar long-forgotten 19th century bjorgvin singing society hall exposed during its demolition

Posted at 09:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

when my salvage team arrived at the church building located at 1639 n. artesian avenue late last week, i wasn't expecting to salvage much of anything. based on preliminary research there wasn't much to expect, with the interior having been altered time and again. aside from...

02 Mar deeply incised dated cornerstone recovered during last days of holy bethel church demolition

Posted at 11:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

several days after salvaging the late 19th century west side chicago holy bethel or "adams street" church's interior, which involved extracting its painted tin time capsule filled with an assortment of ephemera pertaining to the congregation that built it in 1888, i made one final trip...