the urban remains warehouse shipping and receiving area is completely filled with a large acquisition of artifacts purchased earlier this week. as of this writing we continue to sort through stools, building ornament, aviation equipment, industrial furniture, light fixtures and so on. the new inventory contains a...
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last week the bldg. 51 museum acquired an exceptionally rare and historically important late 19th century ornamental cast iron guaranty (later prudential) building flush mount ceiling light fixture medallion. the all original fixture was removed from the commercial building's interior lobby during a senseless remuddling...
three virtually identical (condition varies) chicago stock exchange staircase balusters or panels designed by notable architect louis h. sullivan were acquired earlier this week and later added to the urban remains website product catalog. the historically important and highly sought after angled balusters were salvaged...
milwaukee is my home away from home, especially when i really want to wander around aimlessly, photodocumenting architectural details that capture my attention across the urban landscape. don't get me wrong, there is a substantial amount of terrain for me to document here in chicago,...
we just purchased a huge load of all original all-metal or pressed and folded steel furniture designed and fabricated by the simmons mfg. co., kenosha, wisc. coming across a few pieces here and there is good, but having the opportunity to purchase "simmons" furniture on...
earlier this week we acquired several boxes of assorted laboratory glassware, scales, unusual scientific instruments, signage and other medical oddities once used in a chicago area pharmacy or drugstore. the majority of the articles gathered date between 1880-1930 and are in remarkably great shape, considering age. once...
the highly anticipated bldg. 51 museum artifact catalog will be available for sale - both online and in stores by late spring. the limited edition (print quantity of 500) catalog is divided into three major sections, consisting of artifacts from notable building commissions by architect...
rare to find a large quantity (over 200 available) of all original (not the reproductions) american industrial galvanized steel locker room storage baskets designed and fabricated by the lyon metallic mfg. co., aurora, il. the locker baskets acquired in recent weeks, are comprised largely of...
the images below depict a rare, joseph f. l. uhl-designed chair patented in 1902 (considered a precursor to the slightly modified "perfection" chair) and manufactured by the uhl brothers company, toledo, oh. this early prototype was advertised as a new and useful improvement in the construction...
built on the site of the first brick building in chicago (1837), the 13 story steel frame chicago stock exchange building was designed by the architectural firm of adler and sullivan with falkenau & company as general contractors. the building was completed in 1894 at...
nothing terribly special (i.e., have been made time and again), but the copper fitters are rather delightful. the fixture, although repurposed, contains two original copper socket housings/fitters manufactured by benjamin electric of chicago. they are incredibly popular now, and i'm sure have been knocked off...
urban remains just completed a west side chicago factory salvage containing a wide assortment of old industrial furniture. we managed to secure over a dozen beautifully aged crank handle die carts designed and fabricated by the hamilton took works. the website contains a small selection,...
a single luxfer patent "sawtooth" tile with embossed lettering...
the centerpiece (found within the bell jar) is identified as a "briquette." this unusual looking rectangular-shaped crushed brass metal block consists primarily of old recycles radiator components. large quantities of these bricks are ultimately melted down at a foundry for producing metal castings. interesting "art"...
completely and utterly exhausted. worked 13 hours straight. removed several truckloads of salvaged items from the chicago athletic club. fortunately, nearly all of the historically significant architectural elements from the original 1893 building (henry ives cobb, architect) and the 1907 "michigan building" addition (schmidt, garden...
we just acquired a large lot on very rare and highly sought after "expanded metal type" freestanding lockers designed and fabricated by the federal steel fixture company (chicago, il.). the thoroughly ventilated locker system was often assembled with no. 13 gauge diamond mesh expanded metal and...
we recently acquired multiple early 20th century factory lunchroom swing-out seat tables fabricated by the chicago hardware foundry company, chicago, il. the large assemblage of unrestored components provide us with greater flexibility to reconfigure the tables into any number of multi-seat arrangements (i.e., 4, 8,...