the exchange state bank (1910) was the first of three mower county (southern minnesota) bank buildings designed by the architectural firm of purcell, feick & elmslie (later purcell and elmslie). located on the corner of main street and grand avenue in the small town of...
the following images were carefully selected from the voluminous archive of prominent chicago photographer and teacher, harold allen (1922-1999) housed at the ryerson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago. his photographs of adler and sullivan buildings taken in the 1940's are especially important, perhaps highlighted by his...
images documenting 19th and early 20th century architectural buildings and ornament during first trip (april, 2021) to milwaukee in over a year. i spent the majority of my time revisiting familiar haunts along my "circuit" that arose from several previous trips aimlessly exploring the city's...
the following images were taken during a brief visit to la crosse, wisconsin (march, 2021), a small historic city founded in 1848 on the mississippi river, where several surviving 19th century workers cottages, italianate commercial buildings, and chicago prairie school structures contribute to cityscape rich...
the following blog post links arranged in chronological order below offer highlights of the work of eric j. nordstrom, urban remains, and the bldg. 51 museum archive in 2019. over the past few years my work towards creating and/or collaborating with people and organizations deeply...
sullivanesque in clinton, iowa. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. further reading: VAN ALLEN BUILDING: A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF LOUIS SULLIVAN'S POLYCHROMED TERRA COTTA ORNAMENT...
last weekend i spent the afternoon with tim samuelson, which included a visit to his frank lloyd wright exhibit located at the elmhurst museum of art to drop off garrick theater terra cotta ornament for one of the architectural artifact installations. i took advantage of...
a photographic study of george grant elmslie-designed terra cotta ornament for thornton township high school (1934-35). the mottled reddish-orange slip glaze terra cotta was modeled by architectural sculptor fritz albert, who was assigned the job after head modeler kristian schneider died in 1935. the terra...
latest images taken of louis sullivan's farmers' and merchants' bank building (1919) located in columbus, wisc. i spent most of my time photo-documenting the side of the building, facing south dickason, where the five-window arcade comprised of lavishly ornamented pale green terra cotta is located. ...
latest images (taken two weeks ago ((july, 2020) systemically documenting the long-overlooked a.d. german warehouse, designed in 1914 by frank lloyd wright. located in richland center, wisc., the warehouse was the only building wright ever designed in the town he was born. the warehouse was...
a selection of exterior detail photographic images of sullivan-designed ornament for adler and sullivan's guaranty building (1896) taken during a trip to buffalo in 2017. the ornamental ironwork was executed by the winslow brothers, chicago, ills. the exterior terra cotta was fabricated by northwestern terra cotta...
photographic study of louis h. sullivan-designed polychromed terra cotta ornament adorning the van allen building or department store located in clinton, ia. the four-story commercial building was commissioned by john van allen and constructed between 1912-14 as louis h. sullivan as architect. to achieve a rhythmic...
the first state bank of manilus, ills., was one of parker berry's earliest commissions after spending 8 years as louis h. sullivan's chief draftsman. the two-story red brick sullivanesque style bank building was designed in 1915 with john wesley berry as building contractor. despite being...
i finally had the opportunity to visit and meticulously document louis sullivan's purdue state bank (completed in 1914) over the weekend. the images (see below) are all exterior with an emphasis placed on the richly colored glazed terra cotta and tapestry brick. located in west lafayette,...
a selection of stories from 2019: over a decade devoted to documenting and salvaging chicago's architectural past a look back at images of tribune tower's continued transformation in 2019 documenting louis sullivan-designed carved berlin sandstone panels on facade of 1881 s.a. maxwell loft building bldg. 51 and ryerson archive...
the following links provide access to hundreds of images taken of 19th and early 20th century architectural ornament adorning extant residential and commercial structures in and around downtown milwaukee, taken over the past several years. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bld. 51 archive. WEEKEND...
photographic study of h.h. richardson's sever hall (1878-1880) exterior east facade brick ornament adorning east facade. the richly carved brick ornament was likely executed by the peerless brick company, philadelphia, pa. the 3-story building (4th story set within roof) was constructed using nearly 1.3 million...
photographic survey (in progress) of sullivan-designed red slip terra cotta spandrel panels, capitals and cornice on wainwright building by adler and sullivan and c.k. ramsey (1891). the 10-story building's terra cotta ornament was fabricated by the winkle terra cotta company (incorporated in 1889), st. louis, mo. i...
faced with a tight schedule revolving around back-to-back lectures given by john vinci on louis sullivan's ornament, i didn't have much time to document the architecture of st. louis like i did the year before. thankfully, vinci and i stayed in adler and sullivan's union...
during a recent trip to st. louis accompanied by john vinci and tim samuelson, we made a visit to edwardsville, where richard nickel's architectural ornament collection is housed. nickel sold his original collection - where he amassed early adler and sullivan ornament during chicago's land...