07 Mar

Posted at 15:58h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

late last week the bldg. 51 archive secured what likely is the largest collection of 2d ephemera pertaining to the chicago-based beardslee chandelier manufacturing company, established in 1901 by frank s. beardslee. we begun digitizing some of the collection while attempting to make sense of it...

23 Feb

Posted at 16:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

original 1930 american stoveboard company catalog (i've been searching for one for at least 10 years). so now i know without doubt that by 1930, they carried only one louis h. sullivan-designed board in their product catalog. it's a rather unusual one and the size displayed,...

04 Feb

Posted at 17:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

digitization of a massive mixed bag of chicago architecture images spanning four decades in currently underway. the other night i finally made time to begin scanning what i call the "shoebox collection," which is comprised of thousands of koda and ektachrome slides of chicago dating from...

26 Jan

Posted at 15:53h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

original 1924 saddle-stitched bell building booklet distributed to prospective building tenants. the profusely illustrated tri-fold booklet contains detailed images and information on the building. the 23-story classical style cream-colored terra cotta office building was designed by the architectural firm of vitzthum, karl, and company in...

25 Jan

Posted at 16:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the louis h. sullivan and frank l. wright-designed ornamental plaster within the auditorium of adler and sullivan's garrick theater (1892) was painted hideous colors around the time it was converted into a television studio in 1951. one such example - a star-pod panel - from...

20 Jan

Posted at 15:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

stanley tigerman studied at massachusetts institute of technology, but flunked out after one year. after, the dean of architecture at mit helped tigerman get an apprenticeship with chicago architect george fred keck. after a year with keck, he left to start his own practice, which...

19 Jan

Posted at 17:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a sizable collection of custom-designed commerical door hardware was recently purchased by both the bldg. 51 museum and urbna remains earlier this month. the emblematic and monogrammed cast brass, bronze, and bower-barff iron doorknobs and backplates are from numerous historically important american buildings (many demolished)...

18 Jan

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

eric j. nordstrom's new book on his unrelenting efforts in researching, recording, and ulimately rescuing architectural ornament from historically important 19th and early 20th century residential and commerical buildings will be published in the early months of 2025. updates to follow.  ...

18 Jan

Posted at 16:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

john h. edelmann (1852–1900) was a socialist-anarchist who worked as an architect in the office of alfred zucker, a successful commercial architect of the 1880s and 1890s in new york city. as an architect, edelmann's sole surviving monument is the former headquarters of the decker...

11 Jan

Posted at 15:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press by

with a surprisingly large number of frequent acquisitions populating both museum and gallery these last three months, i have been deeply entrenched in documenting and displaying chicago-centric ephemera, photographs, and architectural artifacts in a satisfactory manner before another acquisition – big or small – arrives...

11 Jan

Posted at 15:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 95,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 18 years). the newly acquired items for the winter months of 2023-20 have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if...

08 Jan

Posted at 15:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

contact sheet images of frank lloyd wright’s francisco terrace (1895) taken shortly after it was rebuilt in oak park in 1978. realtor john baird, attorney, historian devereux bowly, and architect ben weese were instrumental in salvaging frank lloyd wright-designed ornament (e.g., bedford limestone columns, lintels and...

31 Dec

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

note: the following links represent some of highlights accomplished in 2023. the posts are arranged chronologically, from beginning of 2023 to end.  BLDG. 51 ARCHIVE ACQUIRES SIZABLE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT RICHARD NICKEL PHOTOGRAPHS ROOKERY BUILDING BLUEPRINTS, RARE BOOKS, ORNAMENTAL TERRA COTTA, BUILDERS' HARDWARE, AND PLYMOUTH BUILDING...

29 Nov

Posted at 14:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 archive acquired some glass negatives taken by or for the chicago tunnel and/or illinois tunnel company (the latter took over construction and operations beginning in 1905). the work was subcontracted out to the illinois telephone construction...

24 Nov

Posted at 18:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

  four original red slip-glazed gothic style exterior terra cotta fence segments salvaged from northwestern terra cotta executive henry rokham's house (1887) in the 1980s, joined the bldg. 51 museum collection of historically important terra cotta earlier this month. rokham's victorian-era home was designed by architect...

19 Oct

Posted at 16:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

multiple frank lloyd wright-designed red painted cast iron mullion fragments removed from the ground level windows on adler and sullivan's wainwright building (1891) were recently acquired by the bldg. 51 archive collection. the diminutive cast iron sections (fabricator not known) were salvaged from the building...

18 Oct

Posted at 17:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions by

when adler and sullivan's schiller building (1892) - later known as the garrick theater - was undergoing demolition in 1961 (a multitude of preservation groups and notable figures around the world vigorously protested and fought to save it from destruction months prior), a small number...

13 Oct

Posted at 18:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

original diminutive carved bedford limestone block - salvaged by timothy j. samuelson and tim barton - from pond and pond's home for self-supporting women was donated to the bldg. 51 museum collection over the past week. the building was completed in 1908 and located at...

27 Sep

Posted at 14:17h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

an original custom-designed, black enameled ornamental cast iron interior staircase baluster and newel post bottom endcap salvaged from edbrooke and burnham's mecca hotel or flats (1892) during its untimely demolition in 1952, joined the bldg. 51 museum and eric j. nordstrom collection this past week. ...

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