08 Apr

Posted at 14:09h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

newly discovered kodachrome images of bradford lee gilbert's richardsonian romanesque style illinois central station (1893-1974), located at the southern end of grant park near roosevelt road and michigan avenue, chicago, il. central station was an intercity passenger terminal located in downtown chicago, illinois, at the southern...

24 Mar

Posted at 14:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Travel by

the chicago heritage committee was a pioneering grassroots architectural preservation group founded in 1960 by thomas stauffer and richard nickel to save adler and sullivan’s garrick theater and frank lloyd wright’s robie house. active until 1968, it was chicago's first organization dedicated to saving significant...

12 Mar

Posted at 15:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

the rookery building stands as a historic 12-story landmark in chicago's loop, renowned as the city's oldest surviving high-rise. completed in 1888 by the famed architectural team of daniel burnham and john wellborn root, it's celebrated as a masterpiece of the chicago school of architecture,...

10 Mar

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

old chicago houses is a landmark book published in 1941 by journalist john drury. it serves as a "personal biography" of 110 historic homes in chicago. the book originated from a series of weekly articles in the chicago daily news, which ran from 1939 until...

08 Mar

Posted at 16:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

after adler and sullivan’s walker warehouse  (1889) was demolished in 1953, its stone slabs of all shapes and sizes were dumped along the shoreline of lake michigan and remained undisturbed for over seven decades. in the summer of 2025, eric j. nordstrom thoroughly documented and...

07 Mar

Posted at 16:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

Part one: the destruction of a building occurs within a finite, and surprisingly quick time frame, but rarely is salvage such a tidy experience. each demolition spills into life outside the hours of actual wrecking, at first in the form of research to be done (and...

06 Mar

Posted at 18:45h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

latest images of the dying southside chicago comed station (1924), located at located at 6141 s. prairie avenue. the building’s architect, herman v. von holst, was perhaps best known for taking on the responsibility of heading up frank lloyd wright’s architectural practice when wright went to...

03 Mar

Posted at 16:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

original 1922 signed graphite on paper sketch of an ornamental wrought iron staircase newel post recently acquired by the bld. 51 archive and museum in spring of 2026. cyril colnik was a renowned metalsmith from austria, often referred to as "the tiffany of wrought iron.” he...

25 Feb

Posted at 19:14h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

the burnham center, formerly known as the conway building and later the chicago title & trust building, is an historic skyscraper in chicago, illinois. funded by the marshall field estate, it was daniel burnham's final design before his death in 1912, completed in 1913. the burnham...

24 Feb

Posted at 17:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

"on the morning of the 9th of october, 1871, the telegraphic wires flashed to every part of this nation, and to nearly every portion of the civilized world, the shocking intelligence that chicago was in flames, hundreds of lives had been destroyed, and ten thousand...

22 Feb

Posted at 18:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

photographic images of washingtion porter's beloved kiosk sphinx (louis i. simon, architect), located at 4043 lake park avenue, chicago, il. designed in egyptian revivalstyle to showcase porter's antique collection, it featured a 15-story observation tower visible from lake shore drive, intended to be topped with a...

17 Feb

Posted at 18:28h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Travel by

mecca flats was a notable apartment complex in chicago's bronzeville neighborhood, serving as an architectural and cultural landmark from 1891 until its demolition in 1952. the site at 3360 s. state street is now occupied by s.r. crown hall, a modernist structure designed by ludwig...

06 Feb

Posted at 17:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

the following images represent a well-rounded cross section of historically important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum archive in feburary of 2026. the image gallery below offers a preview of bldg. 51’s latest acquisitions: images courtesy of eric...

05 Feb

Posted at 04:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Travel, Uncategorized by

original and largely intact 1962 marina city (bertrand goldberg, 1964-68) prospectus showcasing the building’s distinctive architectural elements with floor plans, site layouts, models, and photographs. the uniquely designed prospectus includes an embossed cover, saddle-stitched booklet with varied paper types, a fold-out building model, blank rental applications,...

04 Feb

Posted at 16:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Uncategorized by

recently digitized, original 1930s grant mason and gilman lane interior and exterior snapshot photos of frank lloyd wright's roloson houses (1894) at 3213-3219 s. calumet ave., chicago, il, are now available through the bld. 51 museum and archive. a small collection of digitized images provided...

03 Feb

Posted at 15:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Uncategorized by

several architectural elements from d.h. burnham and company's fisher building (1896) and addition (1907) were recently purchased for the bld. 51 museum collection and archive. highlights include, but not limited to, a cast iron winslow brothers lobby level elevator floor indicator panel with opposed figural...

02 Feb

Posted at 18:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Travel, Uncategorized by

the 1893 pabst pavilion, designed by otto strack for chicago’s world's columbian exposition, was a terra-cotta structure with a green copper dome and glass corners showcasing beer products. its highlight was a 13-square-foot 24 karat gold-plated cast bronze and white metal pabst brewery model executed...

22 Jan

Posted at 16:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages, Travel, Uncategorized by

the bldg. 51 museum collection recently acquired additional historically important redl slip terra cotta ornament from milwaukee’s former main passenger rail station, the chicago & north western lake front depot. designed by charles sumner frost in a romanesque style, the brick and terra cotta-clad depot...

21 Jan

Posted at 18:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Travel, Uncategorized by

for almost three decades, i've driven past this small polychromatic art deco terra cotta storefront, always expecting it to disappear before my next visit. thankfully, it still stands and remains largely intact. the two-story hugo miller-designed wile building (1923, rebuilt 1928) is located at 1211-13 west...

15 Jan

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

several boxes of original louis h. sullivan-designed chicago stock exchange building custom door hardware were obtained for the bld. 51 museum and archive - all of it salvaged by three oaks wrecking company. the plethora of historically important hardware had been in storage since the...

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