01 Jan

Posted at 18:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

just before christmas i had spoken to mike, son of national wrecking's head honcho, to determine whether the historically important "artificial stone" facade of this post-fire building was going to be saved.  i was taken aback when he responded with a "yes", but only two complete...

28 Dec

Posted at 14:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

in previous posts (here and here) i've discussed my concern over the number of buildings being demolished that have facades bedecked with glazed white "sullivanesque" terra cotta ornament. this unusual terra cotta, "inspired" by organic design motifs original to louis h. sullivan and his chief draftsman...

21 Dec

Posted at 23:58h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 26,800+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

17 Dec

Posted at 13:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the "chatter" of several concerned chicagoans with a keen eye on the rapidly diminishing residences and commercial buildings constructed in the 19th century may have been overheard by the developers who brought national wrecking onboard to clear a group of extant buildings/structures located along a strip of lake...

16 Dec

Posted at 11:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

in 1912 an apartment complex was built above a small land fill, one that night scavengers (i.e., privy vault cleaners) likely dumped their wagons filled with refuse in, beginning around 1878 up until the 1890's. according to an 1886 sanborn insurance map, this large tract of...

11 Dec

Posted at 15:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

for the past ten years, i've invested thousands of dollars in building trade catalogs, with builders' hardware, millwork, architectural house plans, and stained glass window makers comprising the bulk of my research library. in recent years i've eagerly latched onto "google books" as a resource -- as...

08 Dec

Posted at 22:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

after days of negotiating between multiple parties, the bldg. 51 museum secured an early strongly geometric leaded glass window designed by frank lloyd wright for the queen anne style robert p. parker house completed in 1892. the historically important parker house was one of three "bootleg...

08 Dec

Posted at 11:25h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 26,800+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

30 Nov

Posted at 16:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

long after a heavily modified 1870's-era two-story building was demolished last month, the excavators rolled in to begin laying the foundation for yet another new structure that is devoid of character. sure enough, shortly after the backhoe began digging, pockets of artifacts left long ago by...

28 Nov

Posted at 14:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

with only two days before demolition of an early 20th century two-story brick residence began, we had very limited time to salvage an interior outfitted in pristine golden oak wood millwork on both the first and second floors. from door headers to built-in cabinets, and...

27 Nov

Posted at 16:10h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 26,700+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

18 Nov

Posted at 01:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

yesterday i received good news that my "bid" to secure a historically important ornamental cast iron louis sullivan-designed gage building exterior facade stringer was accepted. shortly thereafter, i had a staff member secure the piece and bring it to the studio to photodocument, before making it...

12 Nov

Posted at 16:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the bldg. 51 museum just acquired the historically important and virtually untouched c. 1893 time capsule in the form of a diminutive corrugated copper metal box containing several newspapers, typed letters, a bible and other pertinent artifacts stowed away in the former german zion's evangelical...

12 Nov

Posted at 15:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

after nearly ten years of searching, i've finally acquired an original and very well-maintained softbound dawson brothers catalog, profusely illustrated with their product line from 1887. over the years i've salvaged, from houses all across the city of chicago, a few hundred dawson brothers fireplace...

10 Nov

Posted at 15:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

for years i would drive to work along grand avenue, and i always paid special attention to a heavily modified commercial building, which contained a remarkably intact fret-sawn ornamental pine wood sill or belt course panel that likely would have fallen to pieces if it...

10 Nov

Posted at 14:18h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 26,500+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

09 Nov

Posted at 16:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

with a little over a week to do some exploratory surgery in a three-story house, built between 1881-1886 on the near west side of chicago, we had ample time to carefully examine any and all extant architectural artifacts original to the house. remarkably, the original carved...

06 Nov

Posted at 16:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

with only two hours left in the work day, i received a call that a house constructed in 1915 was scheduled to be demolished the next day. i had no choice but to drop what i was doing and head to the jobsite. when we pulled...

04 Nov

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

last week i was doing research into the timeline of the notable chicago-based john a. lomax bottle company, when reading text written by a friend and avid collector of all things lomax. i was shocked to discover that the chicago consolidated bottling company, established in 1887...

30 Oct

Posted at 15:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

reiterating a previous post: after discussing my recent urban privy find with several people in the field (e.g., historians, archaeologists, chicago bottle collectors and so on), there is very little doubt that i have come across the oldest known/documented chicago urban privy pit, with artifacts pulled from various "pockets"...

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