10 Jul

Posted at 14:15h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Uncategorized by

John Vinci’s Virtual Reality Film:A Quest to Save KAM/Pilgrim Baptist Church Pilgrim Baptist Church, formerly Kehilath Anshe Ma’ariv Synagogue (KAM), deserves reconstruction and preservation. For more than a century, it has served both Jewish and Black communities. For Chicago’s Jewish community, it was a major center...

01 Jul

Posted at 15:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Uncategorized by

Pieces of long-lost Louis Sullivan building revealed on Chicago’s south lakefront A remnant of carved stone trim that has been used as shore-protecting riprap at Rainbow Beach since 1953. (Eric Nordstrom, Urban Remains) By Dennis Rodkin June 29, 2026 05:50 AM CDT After hiding in plain sight on the south lakefront...

08 Jun

Posted at 18:12h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Sales and Promotions, Salvages, Uncategorized by

recent artifacts dug from a multitude of privy vaults located on the near west side of chicago. the earliest discarded remnants from long-forgotten lives, include, but not limited to, civil war-era john a. lomax cobalt blue glass soda glass bottles. a small selection of clear...

05 Jun

Posted at 15:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Uncategorized by

about wbbm: wbbm (780 khz), branded newsradio 105.9 wbbm, is a chicago-licensed commercial all-news am station owned by audacy. its studios are at two prudential plaza in the loop, and its transmitter in nearby bloomingdale is shared with sister station wscr. a class a clear-channel station, wbbm...

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 Jan

Posted at 18:19h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Travel, Uncategorized by

threatened with demolition. exterior photographic survey of george kinglsey's four-story polychromed terra cotta-clad jackson storage and van company warehouse (1923-24), located at 112 east burlington street, la grange, il. notable prairie school architect francis barry byrne was likely involved in the facade's design program. according to tim samuelson,...

06 Jan

Posted at 16:38h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Travel, Uncategorized by

recent images (1-5-2025) of frank lloyd wright's joseph jacob walser junior house (1903), located at 42 north central avenue, chicago, il. the j. j. walser jr. house is a prairie style home at 42 north central avenue in the austin neighborhood of chicago, illinois. designed by...

04 Jan

Posted at 16:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Travel, Uncategorized by

2026 photographic survey of george fred keck's 1933-34 century of progress "house of tomorrow," located at 214 lake front drive, beverly shores, indiana. designated the "century of progress," the fair attracted 39 million attendees, showcasing how advancements in science and technology could enhance everyday life. although...

02 Jan

Posted at 06:26h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press by

the bldg. 51 archive (led by its owner, eric j. nordstrom) has devoted nearly several years to painstakingly build a thoroughly researched and systemattically organized database pertaining to the universe of downtown chicago's commerical buildings dating from its pioneer days to the present. the database contains...

01 Jan

Posted at 16:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Sales and Promotions, Salvages, Travel, Uncategorized by

note: the following links represent some highlights accomplished in 2024. the posts are arranged chronologically, from beginning of 2025 to end of year. as 2025 draws to a close, i culled the the work of eric j. nordstrom, urban remains, and the bldg. 51 archive to...

30 Dec

Posted at 19:01h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized by

original signed richard haas painting (1985) of theodore link's gargantuan romanesque style union station headhouse (1894), located at 1820 market street, st. louis, mo. haas's artwork was used for the cover art of barbaralee diamonstein's heavily illustrated 1986 book entitled "remaking america: new uses, old places." backside...

22 Dec

Posted at 18:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized by

relic house, a historic chicago saloon and restaurant, was built in 1872 from materials salvaged after the great chicago fire of 1871. originally at north park avenue and center street, it later moved near north clark street and lincoln park west. throughout its history, it...

22 Dec

Posted at 17:57h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Press, Uncategorized by

three largely intact and original early frank lloyd wright-designed buff-colored sullivanesque terra cotta balusters salvaged from the robert roloson row houses (1894) when the front terraces where dismantled/demolished in the early 1970's were added to the ever-expanding bldg. 51 museum collection. most of the surviving balusters...

11 Dec

Posted at 19:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Salvages by

additional images taken during removal of historically important church bell from flizikowski and kaiser’s german evangelical lutheran church (1896), located at 2028 north richmond street, chicago, il. the previous blog contains the majority of images and additional information. courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the...

30 Nov

Posted at 23:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by

it was nice to see architectural ornament salvaged by me land at the art institute. the majority of the images however, doument the reconfigured "fragments of chicago's past exhibit," mounted opposite the hartwell memorial tiffany window (1917) within the skylit henry crown gallery. ...

26 Nov

Posted at 16:03h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by

spacetime curvature grid. recent photographic survey of helmet jahn's 40th floor conference room, located on the top floor of giaver and dinkelberg's 40-story jewelers building (1927), located at 35 east wacker drive, chicago, il. a future post will feature images and video of the fully functional original...

13 Aug

Posted at 15:48h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press by

the urban remains showroom and bldg. 51 museum (housed and periodically on display in river north, west town, and fulton market) will continue calling 1820 west grand avenue home for the forseeable future. the number of acquisitions in 2024 has grown considerably in 2025 -...

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