BLDG51. News and Events |

30 Jun artifacts excavated from a former near west side chicago 19th century coal yard

Posted at 17:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

investigating a near west side chicago site, i discovered some history through researching nineteenth century maps. according to an 1886 e. robinson's atlas (sanborn insurance) map of chicago (lots 14-17), a large parking lot that was recently excavated used to be a huge coal yard surrounded by several...

26 Jun medical and industrial furniture, 19th century bottles and historic building terra cotta

Posted at 17:12h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

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 surpassed the 23, 600 item...

25 Jun 19th century graystone two-flat excavation site yields several hutchinson bottles

Posted at 12:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

beginning monday, i found myself documenting a dig site where a prototypical late 19th century graystone two-flat (demolished earlier this year) once resided. with the exception of an early 1880's cobalt john a. lomax hutchinson unearthed at the front of the lot, a surprisingly large assortment...

23 Jun the life and death of a century-old a. finkl & sons foundry hammer press

Posted at 13:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

long ago when i studied the chicago world's fair or "columbian exposition" of 1893 i wondered what, if anything, remained from the "white city" long after it was burned down and/or demolished. where did all the statues go? the lamp posts? [gallery columns="4" ids="10798,10799,10794,10795"] like many others,...

23 Jun important “sullivanesque” ornamental terra cotta salvaged from a chicago garage undergoing demolition

Posted at 10:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

once again i arrived on another heneghan wrecking job site (my crew and i recently completed salvage work at the a. finkl & sons foundry and the howard johnson excavation site) where a massive wooden rood truss warehouse constructed in 1918 was undergoing demolition. [gallery ids="10449,10455,10454,10456,10464,10452"] when the demolition permit...

23 Jun several iron-pontiled bottles, sullivanesque terra cotta ornament and industrial furniture

Posted at 10:04h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

22 Jun 19th and early 20th century privy-dug chicago bottles most recent addition to bldg. 51 digital library

Posted at 18:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

i've amassed this large collection of antique chicago-based bottles (mainly "soda" or "mineral water") through auctions, excavation sites, privies, and private collectors over the past 8 months. with the "unearthing chicago" book taking shape, i'm scrambling to find many more bottles to fill in many...

15 Jun brushed steel cabinets, mannequins, builders’ hardware and a carved building cornerstone

Posted at 15:38h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

12 Jun important arthur heurtley house leaded art glass window becomes latest addition to the bldg. 51 museum

Posted at 12:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

my participation in yesterday's auction proved to be successful when i managed to secure a historically important, frank lloyd wright leaded art glass window designed for the arthur heurtley house (1902). remarkably the strongly geometric art glass window was free from damage and unlike most...

10 Jun more late 19th century old growth notched sills and girts salvaged from a two story wood-framed dwelling

Posted at 01:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

this was the first job site where i was unable to document the demolition of a late 19th century chicago two story wood-framed residence. it contained both old growth notched timber sills and girts with mortise and tenon joinery. in my place, i sent my...

08 Jun discovering more pre and post-chicago fire bottles motivates me to complete analysis on the john kent russell privy pit

Posted at 13:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

late last week i was bombarded with several 19th century chicago soda and ale bottles sourced from auctions, fellow bottle enthusiasts and privy pits. a few will go into my personal collection of historically important 19th century bottles with the most notable being the cobalt blue glass george lomax...

07 Jun industrial gauges, cabinets, signage, and a remarkable simmons library desk recently added this week

Posted at 17:10h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

02 Jun recent finds from chicago dig sites and the remarkable discovery of a second privy vault wood floor

Posted at 17:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by Eric

between residential and commercial salvages, i'm making an effort to also visit and dig multiple excavation sites that are seemingly popping up all around chicago. digging up these "portals to the past" has provided me the opportunity to collect more data in the form of bottles, fragments, building...

26 May several more newly acquired new york city subway light “bare bulb” fixtures available for purchase

Posted at 13:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

i was absolutely delighted to begin the week by acquiring an assortment of original early 20th century cast bronze and brass "bare bulb" industrial incandescent light fixtures salvaged from various new york city subway stations. the subway station fixtures are so incredibly simplistic and visually attractive...

22 May sporadic digging for upcoming “unearthing chicago” book yields more finds, deeper insights

Posted at 17:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

when time permits, i'm moving from one excavation site to another to look for pieces of the past before those "time portals" are once again closed when construction begins. i must admit, i have not "scored" any major privy vaults containing a condensed collection of material...

22 May several richly colored rare mid-19th century soda bottles acquired over the past month

Posted at 12:18h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

i've managed to gather well over a hundred rare and richly colored soda and/or mineral water bottles dating to the mid-19th century over the past month. since the rapidity of bottle acquisition has made it incredibly difficult to populate the urban remains website with these great finds,...

20 May collection of images from this week’s visit to a. finkl & sons foundry undergoing demolition

Posted at 09:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the assemblage of photographic images shown in the gallery below offer a glimpse of my most recent visit (two consecutive days of shooting) to the notable a. finkl & sons chicago foundry that is rapidly being taken apart and discarded by several on-site excavators operated by...

19 May gantry crane bridge plaques, chicago bottles, stools, signage and much more added to website

Posted at 16:48h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

19 May wood molecules, strands of dna, a diminutive skeleton, illustrated posters and other medical oddities

Posted at 14:25h in Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

earlier this week urban remains came across a treasure trove of chicago public school science classroom anatomical models, charts and posters, fossils and other interesting specimens. the images below provide a small sampling of the acquisitions that have been photographed and added to the website. the images...

19 May repurposing 19th century residential wood beam sill plate corner segments into usable furniture

Posted at 12:00h in Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

after thoroughly documenting and/or collecting any and all data from wood beam sill plate corners from various 19th century chicago residences, i'm trying to determine what to do with them since i have nearly 100 individual specimens finished in a nearly identical manner to the...