a multi-story masonry building at 1756 north cleveland avenue was placed on the demolition delay list just last month, meaning its death sentence is likely imminent. the white painted brick structure is a classic italianate style building, with bracketed cornice and ornate rounded window hoods surrounding unusual...
i recently detailed the partial demolition of a pre-fire, multi-story brick structure once occupied by nicholas eckhardt, whose family lived in the building while operating a saloon on the street level during the post-civil war era and on. after the wreckers had torn down the rear...
as of this morning (june 1, 2016) urban remains finally launched its new website, a more elegantly designed and technologically advanced platform, utilizing the latest ecommerce software available today. if you have any questions, concerns, or comments please feel free to contact a sales associate by...
a pre-fire building that has stood on chicago avenue for 149 years is now undergoing a partial demolition and redevelopment, bringing changes which have already significantly altered the existing building. the 3-story red brick facade has been shuttered for some time and notably suffered the...
i've spent hours pouring over j.t. palmatary's illustrated "birdseye view" of chicago as it looked in 1857. in fact, i had the entire map blown up so large, i had to use a truck to deliver it to my downtown office. although it is remarkably detailed, especially in...
the following sequence of images - with the exception of lintel ornament, and a deeply incised keystone recovered from the dumpster - capture the long and painful facadectomy of a milwaukee avenue commercial building (1875). its face had been adorned with the distinctive yellow-hued joliet limestone that...
across the alley, jst a stone's throw from the john kent russell house (1855) stood two houses facing aberdeen street, or curtiss street at the time of their construction and/or move to the block. when these side-by-side houses landed in my daily demolition notifications,...
in a previous post i alerted my readers to the impending demolition of this finely-built workers cottage, constructed between 1875-1881. the first time i visited the house i documented the exterior as well as the interior. after stepping back and taking shots of the facade my...
unearthing detritus from the lives of 19th century chicagoans often means coming across mundane fragments of glass, bone and broken bottles. sometimes, though, even a shard of glass or a broken object can prove to be an exceptional oddity- evidence of victorian customs or a...
when i got wind that a late 19th century two-story brick commercial building was set to be demolished, i modified my schedule immediately to allow for a visit to the building. sadly, the structure waiting to be wiped away from van buren street sat abandoned, exhibiting a high degree of...
when i arrived at the partially demolished house, i felt relaxed and more than prepared to get lost in "the zone" of traveling back in time, carefully analyzing and deconstructing - at least in my head - the fully exposed 19th century wood-framed cottage. since i was the...
the great majority of extant 19th century chicago commercial building facades have succumbed to those 20th century remuddlings that greatly disfigure or altogether destroy the integrity of a building's original architectural character. the replacement of windows to make them more energy efficient is one thing, but more often than...
when salvaging a house slated for demolition, i first and foremost size up both the interior and exterior elements that need to be removed, documenting the "before and after" as a critical facet of the narrative which i set out to capture on each site....
sadly, i missed salvaging and/or documenting the death of this steeply-pitched gabled roof masonry chicago cottage constructed around 1890-1895. when i did make it to the site, all that remained were partially intact brick foundation walls, with the heavily notched interlocking pine wood sill plates...
shortly before the last wave of demolition left the original 1865 foundry building standing alone, as the only reminder of crane's bustling fabrication of steam and valve fitters, urban remains was able to salvage and document the event. the crane manufacturing company lasted well into...
with so many demolished chicago wood-framed worker's cottages, there are a slew of recently documented buildings that await an assigned narrative around their histories, as well as documentation of the accompanying destruction and loss. the "old world" craftsmanship used to erect these simple, yet elegant cottages...
in the aftermath of a partial demolition of chicago's oldest factory building (the c. 1870 addition to the crane manufacturing company), several items have already been unearthed during excavation, with some pre-dating the factory itself. aside from ephemera related to the business (see prior post here), artifacts include a heavily...
Time Capsule From 1889 Discovered In Demolished Humboldt Park Church By Paul Biasco | May 18, 2016 5:51am | Updated on May 18, 2016 12:43pm @Paul_Biasco TwitterFacebookEmailMore Humboldt Park Time Capsule HUMBOLDT PARK — Eric Nordstrom has discovered two time capsules in the past two months, each dating back more than 100 years. Both...
having recently witnessed the charles sumner frost-designed public life insurance building being unceremoniously toppled, with no effort toward its salvage, my mind wandered to other sites in the city, both remaining and lost, that were touched by the architects. frost had a fruitful partnership with alfred...
on a calm afternoon, only myself and the wreckers were present as the humongous carved limestone columns proudly gracing the facade of the charles sumner frost-designed public life insurance building (1921) were quickly turned to a crumbling heap. the clunky, menacing clam bucket attached to the boom...