11 Sep

Posted at 20:37h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

a selection of photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey is provided below. the architectural ornament is sourced from extant late 19th and early 20th century buildings within chicago's city limits. the majority of the buildings enjoy landmark status, while others are relatively unknown,...

24 Aug

Posted at 21:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

day one: restoration of the beaux-arts style cook county hospital facade, comprised of limestone, brick, and terra cotta, is well underway. the partially demolished hospital (i.e., rear wings and powerhouse in 2010) was completed in 1913-14 with paul gerhardt as architect (served as cook county architect...

14 Aug

Posted at 20:13h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 40,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be)...

13 Aug

Posted at 23:06h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

i've devoted several hours each and every week at the ryerson and burnham library where the richard nickel archive is housed. there, i get lost in the past, where i carefully study, select, and digitize/edit thousands of images taken by photographer and salvager richard nickel...

10 Aug

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

as of late nearly every cottage slated for demolition contains virtually no interior or exterior ornament worth salvaging due to countless renovations, remuddlings that have subsequently stripped those distinctive elements that contribute to a historically specific identity. [gallery columns="4" ids="19560,19561,19562,19563"] i've come to accept this as the norm,...

03 Aug

Posted at 02:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Salvages by

montgomery ward's mail order house and administration building (1907) undergoing facade restoration. the mammoth 8-story reinforced concrete building accentuated with sullivanesque terra cotta ornament was completed in 1907 by architectural firm schmidt, garden, and martin. the ornament was designed by hugh garden. built as a warehouse...

25 Jul

Posted at 18:49h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

richard nickel images of adler & sullivan's solomon blumenfeld building taken during its demolition. the three-story building with limestone facade was built for chicago clothing merchant solomon blumenfeld between 1883-1884.  [caption id="attachment_39151" align="alignleft" width="2516"] taken by nickel while still a student at the institute of design....

04 Jul

Posted at 19:29h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

  if i recall correctly, i salvaged an old pharmacy located in east chicago sometime in 2006. the family-owned business and the 1920's building housing it, shut down after a walgreens moved in around the corner. while salvaging the drugstore - or what was left of it...

25 Jun

Posted at 21:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

a found a bag of diminutive stainless steel letters and numbers the other day. completely slipped my mind i salvaged them over 10 years ago from veterans administration lakeside hospital (1950). i believe schmidt, garden, and erickson were the architects. [caption id="attachment_38317" align="alignleft" width="900"] the brushed...

13 Jun

Posted at 12:33h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the following selection of images were taken during the salvage operation at 170-172 n. halsted. we salvaged anything and everything, including old elevator equipment and a pair of steel elevator doors. our work is done there, but i will likely stick around to document the...

07 Jun

Posted at 22:10h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

  john vinci kodachrome images capturing the final moments of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) in late april of 1972. note the gargantuan main steel trusses (fully exposed) that spanned the elaborately stenciled trading room. the stock exchange was completed in 1894 by the...

27 May

Posted at 04:22h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" publication (slated for completion after "unearthing chicago hits circulation),  i continue data-gathering by documenting any and all building material used in the construction of the balloon frame, beginning from the 1840's on through the 1880's. all of the material collected thus far...

27 May

Posted at 02:02h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

the following images are from a two-story victorian era commercial building built around 1882. additional research will hopefully flesh out architect and/or builder along with commercial and residential tenements that resided there since the time the building was completed.  the largely intact storefront was...

27 Apr

Posted at 17:23h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

an early 20th century factory with white glazed terra cotta (possibly fabricated by the midland terra cotta company) located at 825-855 w. adams is undergoing demolition. thanks to moshe tamssot for bringing this to my attention. i photographed the exterior a few weeks ago, but looking...

24 Apr

Posted at 22:36h in Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Sales and Promotions, Salvages by

the following gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 35,500 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and...

23 Apr

Posted at 04:51h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

according to 19th century chicago public health reports, periodicals (e.g., the sanitarian), and city ordinances, it was rather common for licensed "night scavengers" to dump refuse collected from residential privy pits or "vaults" into vacant lots. i've discovered several of these dumps over the past 3...

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