07 Aug

Posted at 04:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i set aside time this weekend to resume scanning piles of postcards amassed over the past year.  i’ve included a few real photo post cards (rppc) of early 20th century residential streetscapes, and a seldom seen photographic view of schmidt, garden, and martin's michael reese hospital...

04 Aug

Posted at 13:49h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery represents a fraction of 19th and early 20th century american builders' hardware recently added to urban remains virtual showroom. several examples salvaged from historically important buildings across the country will be added in the coming months. ...

28 Jul

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

digitizing the bldg. 51 archive's chicago fire collection of objects and ephemera has resumed, with the most recent seldom seen period stereoviews depicting the conflagration posted below. the images of the "burnt district" taken shortly after the chicago fire of 1871. several images were photographed by...

21 Jul

Posted at 14:01h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of JULY, 2021, have been...

10 Jul

Posted at 06:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

tragedy, or perhaps irony, characterizes many of chicago's largest construction and demolition efforts in recent history. just six years ago, vying to be the next host to the olympics, the city chose to demonstrate its bid by preemptively razing a 130-year old compound of historically...

07 Jul

Posted at 02:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

in synchronistic fashion, a rather interesting connection was recently discovered between artifacts that had separately been excavated from two chicago demolition sites. initially seeming like a simple curiosity, a detailed 7.5" tall spelter coin bank representing the first national bank of chicago was unearthed from...

22 Jun

Posted at 22:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

an uncanny find this week arrived in the form of a hefty, solid block of stone recovered from the basement of a wood frame cottage undergoing demolition near downtown chicago. the mottled, pink and gray rectangular block is a granite brick laid in 1883 at...

16 Jun

Posted at 13:10h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of JUNE/JULY, 2021, have been...

15 Jun

Posted at 01:55h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

i was given unfettered access to carefully document and subsequently salvage the 19th century young women's christian association hotel building  (later known as 830 s. michigan avenue hotel) shortly before it was demolished in the winter of 2009.  the seven-story combination red brick and terra cotta hotel located...

31 May

Posted at 18:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Products by

profusely illustrated "the story of terra cotta" hardbound book published in 1920 by walter geer. only a hundred copies were printed, with very few known to exist. the heavily resourceful 300-plus page book provides in-depth information about the american terra cotta industry and its fabricators. ...

18 May

Posted at 20:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images highlight important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum archive.  any and all images courtesy of bldg. 51 museum and archive and eric j. nordstrom. all rights reserved. ...

10 May

Posted at 21:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a unique and distinctive collection of historically important metal castings, foundry patterns and plaques were recently acquired by chicago's wagner foundry and its subsidiary, the bronze memorial plaque company. the assemblage is comprised of both interior and exterior metal (e.g., bronze, brass, aluminum, etc.) recast ornament...

05 May

Posted at 03:21h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of MAY,...

27 Apr

Posted at 19:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

just this week i acquired two remarkably rare bottles dating to the mid-19th century, whose history is tied to the 1980’s demolition of chicago’s lake shore drive “s-curve.” in the world of excavation they represent small, yet important “portals to the past," the scarce remnants of...

20 Apr

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

several original, seldom found, and profusely illustrated 19th and early 20th century commercial and residential builders' hardware catalogs were acquired by the bldg. 51 museum archive in early april. it will take several months to digitize and upload the collection of catalogs on the bldg....

14 Apr

Posted at 03:37h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of APRIL,...

11 Apr

Posted at 03:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

an original early 20th century granite paver was added to the urban remains collection this week, as a souvenir of the city’s early infrastructure and as an artifact tied to the wells street station that once operated at the site of the merchandise mart. the wells...

02 Apr

Posted at 03:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired two original and largely intact louis sullivan-designed cast plaster proscenium vault "star-pod" panels salvaged from adler & sullivan's garrick theater auditorium during its demolition in early 1961. the condition of the panels vary in addition to the finish, with...

30 Mar

Posted at 21:30h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of MARCH,...

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