31 Dec

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

note: the following links represent some of highlights accomplished in 2023. the posts are arranged chronologically, from beginning of 2023 to end.  BLDG. 51 ARCHIVE ACQUIRES SIZABLE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT RICHARD NICKEL PHOTOGRAPHS ROOKERY BUILDING BLUEPRINTS, RARE BOOKS, ORNAMENTAL TERRA COTTA, BUILDERS' HARDWARE, AND PLYMOUTH BUILDING...

24 Nov

Posted at 18:05h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

  four original red slip-glazed gothic style exterior terra cotta fence segments salvaged from northwestern terra cotta executive henry rokham's house (1887) in the 1980s, joined the bldg. 51 museum collection of historically important terra cotta earlier this month. rokham's victorian-era home was designed by architect...

29 Apr

Posted at 15:25h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

the time finally arrived - and within a day of the senseless destruction of nearby 1870s italianate residence - for the humble bell avenue workers cottage, erected between 1884-1887, to fall to the wrecking ball the other day. after documenting the brick...

28 Apr

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

despite a sizable public outcry and preservation efforts (i.e., petitions, etc) to save a rare post-chicago fire wood-framed italiante residence located at 2240 n burling, the demolition permit was released (after 90  days in a holding pattern), and the wreckers arrived and quickly reduced the...

30 Dec

Posted at 16:35h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Press, Salvages by

demolition permit issued for bell avenue chicago 19th century brick workers cottage with completely intact bracketed pine wood cornice, lemont limestone keystones, and double arch attic window accentuated with fret-sawn spandrel. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, bldg. 51 archive, and chicago...

09 Nov

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

a modest downtown chicago post-fire masonry structure built between 1873-1874 for the rubber paint company will be destroyed by end of the week. the two-story brick building retains the original distinctive archtop windows punctuated with unornamented lemont limestone keystones. the original pressed metal or wood projecting...

18 Oct

Posted at 03:44h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

a 19th century two-flat (discussed in a previous post) has been reduced to rubble, but the discovery of an aqua blobtop miller beer bottle (with intact lighting stopper) left in a wall exposed during the final moments of demolition, has made it worthwhile to photo-document...

10 Oct

Posted at 19:32h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

five historically important commercial and residential keystones from the bldg. 51 museum collection.  [caption id="attachment_34712" align="alignleft" width="2216"] one of a kind original and intact museum-quality and historically important single ornamental hand carved exterior solid keystone salvaged from a pre-fire chicago german school (later known as the gethsemane...

11 Sep

Posted at 02:59h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

  a number of mid-19th century bottles were recently unearthed deep below the site of chicago’s former grand central station, with the four richly colored iron and smooth base soda bottles serving as the inspiration to further investigate the slew of structures that were built above...

06 Sep

Posted at 10:34h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

as more and more 19th century cottages succumbed to the wrecking ball over the course of the past year, i could not help but entertain the idea of salvaging bigger and more visually-striking house "systems," whose parts alone are powerful in size and scale.   [gallery ids="22908,22910,22909"] in...

31 Aug

Posted at 15:27h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, Salvages by

  in preparation for publishing "unearthing chicago" in 2022, i've pulled some images capturing 19th and early 20th century bottles at excavation sites around chicago. shortly after being discovered, these remnants of victorian-era rubbish were carefully exposed by removing surrounding dirt and debris to reveal a...

24 Aug

Posted at 11:07h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, New Acquisitions, New Products, Salvages by

anticipating another year of lost buildings through demolition, i've already prepared additional storage space for the ever-growing collection of lost or discarded objects found under attic floorboards, ledger and sill plates, foundation walls, and stud cavities within those 19th century chicago cottages that are faced with...

27 Jul

Posted at 06:50h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

  the wrecking machine is immobile for a moment, but research on this cottage remains active, as i repeatedly visit to explore and document the house's framework -- bedecked with pegged and notched sill plates, rough-sawn white pine "sticks," and so on. both the interior and exterior have been altered so...

27 Jul

Posted at 01:14h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

    a compilation of images, brief comments taken from other social media platforms, and previous blog bld. 51 blog posts on louis h. sullivan's henry babson house are presented below. the babson house are richard nickel, john vinci, and david norris salvaged louis h. sullivan's 1908 henry babson...

20 Jul

Posted at 14:13h in Bldg. 51, Events & Announcements, Featured Posts, Miscellaneous, Salvages by

photographic survey (a work in progress) of the romanesque style compton hill standpipe water tower designed by architect harvey ellis in 1898. the compton hill water tower (1898), is the earliest of three extant stand pipe-water towers located in st. louis. the 179-foot water tower was...

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