following the revelation of a time capsule, or foundation deposit, in the cornerstone of humboldt park's former st. paul's ev. lutheran church, it seems appropriate to elaborate the twentieth century history of the building. as dnainfo covered, the most recent iteration of the building was as a d.i.y....
just this past week another late nineteenth century church was wrecked in humboldt park. arriving to scope out the recipient of this new demolition sentence, the two-story masonry jehovah's witnesses church held immediate intrigue, a modest structure painted completely gray, but veiling certain architectural features that appeared...
while the mountainous piles of rubble were being carted off, the last remains of the recently demolished crane brothers mfg. factory building addition (the main building constructed in 1865 still stands), i discovered a small cavity against the foundation wall that yielded a wealth of artifacts. the 19th...
a month ago i posted about the uncertain fate of the ornamental terra cotta adorning the facade of presbyterian hospital's daniel a. jones building, completed in 1888. as the small collection of wrecking machines slowly erased the building's lengthy existence, i was growing concerned that...
a peek inside the construction being done at 112 south state street yielded a surprising glimpse into the building's former life as a luxurious vaudeville theater. to say the current architecture is unassuming is a vast understatement, as its facade effectively conceals over a century of history....
after returning from my week-long trip to new orleans, i revisited the site of the crane brothers manufacturing factory complex (renamed northwestern manufacturing and then crane mfg. co. shortly after the 1871 great chicago fire). the building that most interested me was one of two pre-fire structures, built in...
[caption id="attachment_20372" align="alignleft" width="900"] rose's product was advertised to contain nearly five pounds of fresh, lean beef in the form of a heavy syrup, priced at one dollar per pound. preston b. rose moved to chicago, where he used his chemistry knowledge to concoct a new...
after thoroughly photo-documenting the interior and exterior of the two extant pre-fire crane brothers factory buildings constructed in 1865 and 1870, we were given 1-2 days to extract artifacts that i expressed interest in during a lengthy afternoon of search and discovery. with insurance certificates issued and...
a gargantuan early twentieth century neoclassical style commercial building, originally built for the public life insurance company and last occupied by the plumbing council of chicagoland, was recently handed a death sentence in the form of a demolition permit that virtually came out of nowhere....
an excavation at van buren & morgan yielded an interesting find this week, to add to the store of objects comprising a "city beneath the city." unearthed there was an exceptionally rare bottle, one of only three known examples in this color, and the only...
among the more interesting surprises an old house can hold, insulation is sometimes unearthed during demolition in the form of dated ephemera and materials from a bygone era. the contents found are especially valuable in providing a sturdy timeline during which the house was constructed, especially if found resting on...
this early nondescript cottage located on chestnut resembled somewhat the non-extant john kent russell house, especially in that its age and alterations made it into a richly complex case study, and one that i managed to thoroughly document before and during its demolition. like the russell house, the...
a three-story early 20th century yellow brick apartment complex, located in the wrigleyville neighborhood of chicago was demolished late last week. thankfully we had a few weeks to prepare and thoroughly salvage architectural elements from the building's interior. the majority of the passage and closet doors...
for several weeks now i've continued to make my way over to the northeast corner of state and huron to monitor the agonizingly slow death of 8 east huron, which remains standing, despite the loss of its "coach house" and adjoining neighbor to the west...
early in the morning i received notice that a late 19th century two-story graystone was handed a death sentence. after reviewing images of the facade, i was drawn to the matching leaded beveled glass transom windows and roofline ornament consisting of cast iron cresting or...
on the "deconstructing chicago" front, my interest is in demystifying the incredibly complicated methods and materials used during the span of time from 1840-1880, when evolving technologies, as well as supply and demand for material, continually wavered from one building season to the next. [gallery ids="18676,18677,18675"] the case study...
when my salvage team arrived at the church building located at 1639 n. artesian avenue late last week, i wasn't expecting to salvage much of anything. based on preliminary research there wasn't much to expect, with the interior having been altered time and again. aside from...
on the way to the office this morning i made a stop at the corner of huron and state to document the progression of a demolition, a site at which my repeated requests to salvage ornament ultimately fell on deaf ears. this was due in large part to my lack...
several days after salvaging the late 19th century west side chicago holy bethel or "adams street" church's interior, which involved extracting its painted tin time capsule filled with an assortment of ephemera pertaining to the congregation that built it in 1888, i made one final trip...
this week three lots located on west ohio street were in the beginning phase of being dug by workers from one of many demolition companies i work with. the lot being excavated once contained a small workers cottage that i missed the chance to document during its...