BLDG51. News and Events |

12 Jun hidden ephemera in a partially demolished 19th chicago cottage’s ridge board assists in dating structure

Posted at 12:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

when i arrived at the partially demolished house, i felt relaxed and more than prepared to get lost in "the zone" of traveling back in time, carefully analyzing and deconstructing - at least in my head - the fully exposed 19th century wood-framed cottage. since i was the...

09 Jun 19th century building facade “remuddled” with 1920’s art deco polychromatic terra cotta cornice

Posted at 15:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

the great majority of extant 19th century chicago commercial building facades have succumbed to those 20th century remuddlings that greatly disfigure or altogether destroy the integrity of a building's original architectural character. the replacement of windows to make them more energy efficient is one thing, but more often than...

09 Jun a 19th century chicago alderman’s scrapbook discovered under the floorboards of a house slated for demolition

Posted at 09:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

when salvaging a house slated for demolition, i first and foremost size up both the interior and exterior elements that need to be removed, documenting the "before and after" as a critical facet of the narrative which i set out to capture on each site....

07 Jun documenting 19th century timbers and trash pits shortly after demolition of a chicago cottage

Posted at 22:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

sadly, i missed salvaging and/or documenting the death of this steeply-pitched gabled roof masonry chicago cottage constructed around 1890-1895. when i did make it to the site, all that remained were partially intact brick foundation walls, with the heavily notched interlocking pine wood sill plates...

06 Jun pre-fire crane brothers factory building riveted joint hand-forged iron vault door saved from demolition

Posted at 17:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

shortly before the last wave of demolition left the original 1865 foundry building standing alone, as the only reminder of crane's bustling fabrication of steam and valve fitters, urban remains was able to salvage and document the event. the crane manufacturing company lasted well into...

31 May factory furniture, craftsman style art glass windows, dug chicago bottles, and a crane plant vault door

Posted at 13:33h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts salvaged and/or acquired and posted in the urban remains massive website catalog (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one...

30 May charles frost and alfred granger-designed buildings lost and found

Posted at 10:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

having recently witnessed the charles sumner frost-designed public life insurance building being unceremoniously toppled, with no effort toward its salvage, my mind wandered to other sites in the city, both remaining and lost, that were touched by the architects. frost had a fruitful partnership with alfred...

24 May “sullivanesque” terra cotta spandrel panel from h.b. wheelock’s western methodist book concern building

Posted at 01:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

the 11-story "moorish gothic" office building was completed in 1899 by architect harry bergen wheelock, originally serving as the offices of the western methodist book exchange, later as the stop and shop warehouse. this week's acquisitions include an additional "sullivanesque" spandrel panel (four sections creates a...

23 May bldg. 51 museums gains two matching rookery building william drummond elevator indicator light fixtures

Posted at 13:36h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

this week the bldg. 51 collection acquired a pair of historically important bronze and pressed two-piece frosted glass elevator indicator light fixtures dating to william drummond's renovation of the rookery building in the 1930's. the super super streamlined elevator fixtures feature centrally located rings flanked on...

17 May humboldt park church razed – 1889 time capsule recovered from its cornerstone

Posted at 23:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

just this past week another late nineteenth century church was wrecked in humboldt park. arriving to scope out the recipient of this new demolition sentence, the two-story masonry jehovah's witnesses church held immediate intrigue, a modest structure painted completely gray, but veiling certain architectural features that appeared...

17 May excavation of recently demolished crane brothers factory begins, pavers and paperwork unearthed

Posted at 23:30h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

while the mountainous piles of rubble were being carted off, the last remains of the recently demolished crane brothers mfg. factory building addition (the main building constructed in 1865 still stands), i discovered a small cavity against the foundation wall that yielded a wealth of artifacts. the 19th...

14 May fragments salvaged from the extant mabbett & breed’s block (1858) located in milwaukee, wi.

Posted at 23:46h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

on occasion urban remains ventures to acquire architectural artifacts from outside chicago, and this week brought a fragment from a mid-nineteenth century building in milwaukee that is undergoing redevelopment. the artifact is an original section of allover crazed painted cast iron entryway load-baring column with...

05 May late 19th century north side chicago dumpsite yields hundreds of largely intact bottles

Posted at 14:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

[caption id="attachment_20372" align="alignleft" width="900"] rose's product was advertised to contain nearly five pounds of fresh, lean beef in the form of a heavy syrup, priced at one dollar per pound. preston b. rose moved to chicago, where he used his chemistry knowledge to concoct a new...

03 May urban remains salvages crane brothers factory shortly before its demolition

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

after thoroughly photo-documenting the interior and exterior of the two extant pre-fire crane brothers factory buildings constructed in 1865 and 1870, we were given 1-2 days to extract artifacts that i expressed interest in during a lengthy afternoon of search and discovery. with insurance certificates issued and...

03 May louis j. millet-designed st. louis union station polychromatic canvas frieze panel joins bldg. 51 museum collection

Posted at 17:11h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

as the early 20th century head (roman goddess diana) of montgomery ward's "spirit of progress" joins an exhibition at the chicago cultural center, a new historically-important (with ties to both st. louis and chicago) and finely executed artifact enters the bldg. 51 collection, thanks to...

03 May bldg. 51 acquires fritz albert-designed reebie building egyptian revival terra cotta ornament

Posted at 16:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

an exciting acquisition joining a number of egyptian revival artifacts in the urban remains/ bldg. 51 collection is a brightly colored exterior polychromatic glazed terra cotta window surround cornice segment removed nearly 40 years ago from the historically-important chicago art deco gem known as the reebie storage warehouse,...

20 Apr wall cavity “insulation” greatly assists in identifying age of 19th century chicago cottages

Posted at 13:08h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

among the more interesting surprises an old house can hold, insulation is sometimes unearthed during demolition in the form of dated ephemera and materials from a bygone era. the contents found are especially valuable in providing a sturdy timeline during which the house was constructed, especially if found resting on...

20 Apr c. 1926 full-figured granada theater figural statue finally makes its way into the bldg. 51 museum

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

the monumental plaster female statue recently housed in off-site storage, has recently made another move, this time to be in a more secluded, climate-controlled space along with the rest of the bldg. 51 collection. thankfully it is solidly-built, with complete structural integrity to withstand relocation. longtime...

04 Apr newly added items from the past week range from factory furnishings to an unusual billiard room light fixture

Posted at 09:03h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by Eric

31 Mar turn of the century wrigleyville apartment complex salvaged shortly before demolition last week

Posted at 16:23h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by Eric

a three-story early 20th century yellow brick apartment complex, located in the wrigleyville neighborhood of chicago was demolished late last week. thankfully we had a few weeks to prepare and thoroughly salvage architectural elements from the building's interior. the majority of the passage and closet doors...