23 May

Posted at 14:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

with the power cut and fence erected, walter burley griffin's historically important william f. tempel house (commonly referred to as the "solid rock" house) will be destroyed this week. located in winnetka, ills, the reinforced concrete house was erected in 1911 and later remodeled in...

22 May

Posted at 03:54h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

terra-cotta, the most enduring of all building materials, has been used to a greater or less extent from a high antiquity in continental europe, and in england terra-cotta trimmings were used in building as early as the fifteenth century. in the united states this material...

15 May

Posted at 14:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

in my studio one night recently, i was photographing the latest collection of bottles, chinaware and other debris unearthed from sites along grand avenue, just west of downtown chicago. i was utterly burned out, troubling over moving forward, so i quickly switched gears to set the...

11 May

Posted at 14:01h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

most recent architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive.  highlights include richard nickel's audio-visual equipment used to record preservation hearings, conduct interviews (e.g., frank lloyd wright, elmslie sisters, william g. purcell, etc.), adler and sullivan...

04 May

Posted at 14:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of MAY, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need...

02 May

Posted at 03:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the chicago balloon frame: beyond "boards and nails." over the past three years, i've collected a considerable amount of photographic images and historic building materials housed in a storage facility in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" project, which aims to address an increasing number of anomalies...

21 Apr

Posted at 19:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

detroit's extant iconic art deco towering fisher building (1928) is one of the most notable works by architect albert kahn (joseph fathaniel french served as architect). the 30-story building - faced with a combination of limestone, granite, and several types of marble - was financed by...

20 Apr

Posted at 14:40h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

several original and amazingly intact louis sulllvian-designed eli b. felsenthal store and flats (1906) terra cotta cornice blocks were acquired by the bldg. 51 musuem collection last week.  while working for landmarks, tim samuelson spent a great deal of time both documenting and rescuing terra cotta...

19 Apr

Posted at 05:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i've had trouble tracking down exterior images of the mccormick mansion undergoing demolition for quite some time now. i finally found a few taken by richard nickel in 1954 last week. the more widely known interior images with graffiti on the walls were taken by...

06 Apr

Posted at 13:40h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of APRIL, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need...

05 Apr

Posted at 04:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

i had tim samuelson over to view the bldg. 51 museum collection, shortly before it was packed up and moved to its new location. it's currently being set up for display to a wider audience interested in historic chicago architectural artifacts. in the meantime, the...

29 Mar

Posted at 21:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

two original early 20th century profusely illustrated architectural building trade catalogs printed for the chicago-based decorators supply company and friedley-voshardt were aquired by the bldg. 51 archive last week. the soft-bound product catalogs contain detailed descriptions and images of chicago-based showrooms, offices, and factories. in...

29 Mar

Posted at 04:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images provide an extensive photographic survey of 19th century building hardware designed by louis h. sullivan during his time at the architectural firm of adler and sullivan. the majority of the hardware was fabricated by the yale & towne mfg. company of stamford,...

26 Mar

Posted at 01:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

for weeks now, i've been shuttling back and forth through folders housing thousands of images pertaining to upcoming publications, including "unearthing chicago" and "deconstructing chicago." slowly but surely i've been finding homes for these photographs in various chapters, where they complement the text. while pouring over these...

26 Mar

Posted at 00:04h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the bldg. 51 museum has aquired additional buff-colored terra cotta ornament from the otto strack-designed pabst beer pavilion built for the world's columbian exposition of 1893. the pavilion was located in central hall of the fair's agricultural building, designed by designed by charles mckim of...

23 Mar

Posted at 10:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products by

an all original and amazingly intact louis sullivan-designed wrought iron box seat grille removed from adler and sullivan's auditorium theater (1889) joins bldg. 51 museum collection. the ornamental hand-forged grille is comprised of riveted joint wrought iron with original bower-barff plated finish largely intact. ...

23 Mar

Posted at 01:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

a collection of recently digitized original 19th and early 20th century rare and seldom found chicago-based building trade catalogs housed on the bldg. 51 museum archive. in addition to catalogs, i've included a few salesman samples, post cards and other related ephemera. when time permits,...

15 Mar

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

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of MARCH, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if...

23 Feb

Posted at 15:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, New Acquisitions, New Products by

the following images feature important architectural ornament, artifacts, objects and ephemera recently added and/or digitized to the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive.  highlights include a benjamin lindauer house terra cotta chimney panel, elmslie and purcell letterhead, and interior la salle hotel rookwood faience winged cherub. ...

21 Feb

Posted at 10:14h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products by

SEVEN FRAGMENTS FROM CHICAGO'S PAST: seven historically important fragments salvaged from chicago buildings designed in the 19th and early 20th century. every building has been demolished and largely forgotten. mosaic tile fragment from one of two interior staircase landings. schiller building (1892), adler and sullivan, architects. the...

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