BLDG51. News and Events |

25 Aug unearthing chicago: the most recent fragment assemblages from multiple dig sites

Posted at 15:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

i've been spending great lengths of time reviewing images taken from various excavation sites, privy pits and other underground spaces to include in the highly-anticipated "unearthing chicago" hardcover book due out by the end of the this year. at times i feel my eyeballs are going...

25 Aug newly built homes replacing 19th century houses across chicago at an alarming rate

Posted at 15:00h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

neighbors have expressed both interest and concern over the fate of a 19th century victorian era red brick house bedecked with several stained glass windows, ornamental terra cotta brick and a visually striking, painted, galvanized tin bracketed cornice with a large circular-shaped sunburst. a similar house built...

22 Aug assigning narratives to mundane objects destined to be scrapped or discarded as rubbish

Posted at 15:24h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

heneghan wrecking leveled the assemblage of finkl steel framed sheds and brick and mortar foundry buildings earlier this year. urban remains was fortunate to participate in the salvage, and managed to rescue an impressive catalog of distinctive artifacts and furniture that otherwise would have been scrapped...

18 Aug another transplanted 19th century wood-framed house on mozart reduced to rubble in a matter of hours

Posted at 23:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

every morning i'm hit with an email notification detailing the number of city of chicago demolition permits issued for 19th and early 20th century residential and commercial structures alike. as i review each and every permit issued, i increasingly feel an urgent self-induced pressure to seek out and document...

17 Aug documenting construction materials and methods of a transplanted 19th century workers cottage

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

when time permits, i will make sure to supplement the following series of images with an explanation and discussion of this salvage. the photos document the demolition of a 19th century victorian era transplanted wood-framed workers cottage. two interesting finds during the demolition: the discovery of a...

11 Aug conversations with some of chicago’s noteworthy architects and historians

Posted at 23:41h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Sales and Promotions by Eric

it all started late last year when i befriended and later invited architectural critic lynn becker over to my place to have a drink and discuss the john kent russell house. i had little agenda except to converse about shared interests, and drinking a couple beers in the midst...

11 Aug several newly acquired objects added to the urban remains online catalog over the past week

Posted at 22:53h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 25,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

07 Aug louis h. sullivan-designed copper-plated ornamental cast iron interior guaranty building baluster

Posted at 12:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the bldg. 51 museum has multiple 19th century artifacts from adler and sullivan's guaranty building. these include an interior staircase baluster, which is the only surviving all-original lobby flush mount light fixture ceiling medallion (the current fixtures in situ are recasts), and a few doorknobs...

03 Aug realistic porcelain eyeballs, ruby red exit lights, machine bases, newel posts and cabinetry

Posted at 16:42h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

21 Jul metal industrial cabinets, 19th century fire escape kits, stools and stands, privy finds

Posted at 14:39h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

20 Jul urban remains offers one of the largest selections of faries american industrial lighting

Posted at 13:01h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

urban remains carries a vast selection of "portable" fairies lighting fixtures spanning from the company's founding in the late 19th century to the 1950's. from patented bracketed wall and ceiling fixtures, to table lamps and shades, we offer some of the very best lighting (in some...

14 Jul apothecary glassware, matching wall sconces, and repurposed industrial furniture

Posted at 17:51h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

07 Jul light fixtures, terra cotta, medical cabinets and drafting tables latest additions this week

Posted at 16:03h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have 24,000+ meticulously documented and well-organized artifacts in the...

26 Jun medical and industrial furniture, 19th century bottles and historic building terra cotta

Posted at 17:12h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

23 Jun several iron-pontiled bottles, sullivanesque terra cotta ornament and industrial furniture

Posted at 10:04h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions by Eric

15 Jun brushed steel cabinets, mannequins, builders’ hardware and a carved building cornerstone

Posted at 15:38h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

08 Jun discovering more pre and post-chicago fire bottles motivates me to complete analysis on the john kent russell privy pit

Posted at 13:56h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

late last week i was bombarded with several 19th century chicago soda and ale bottles sourced from auctions, fellow bottle enthusiasts and privy pits. a few will go into my personal collection of historically important 19th century bottles with the most notable being the cobalt blue glass george lomax...

07 Jun industrial gauges, cabinets, signage, and a remarkable simmons library desk recently added this week

Posted at 17:10h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

26 May several more newly acquired new york city subway light “bare bulb” fixtures available for purchase

Posted at 13:31h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by Eric

i was absolutely delighted to begin the week by acquiring an assortment of original early 20th century cast bronze and brass "bare bulb" industrial incandescent light fixtures salvaged from various new york city subway stations. the subway station fixtures are so incredibly simplistic and visually attractive...

22 May several richly colored rare mid-19th century soda bottles acquired over the past month

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

i've managed to gather well over a hundred rare and richly colored soda and/or mineral water bottles dating to the mid-19th century over the past month. since the rapidity of bottle acquisition has made it incredibly difficult to populate the urban remains website with these great finds,...