demolition of another pre-fire chicago commercial building (1862) nearly completed

a project manager working for chicago-based heneghan wrecking informed me late last week that two adjoining 19th century multi-story brick commercial buildings located along lake street were undergoing demolition in preparation for future development on the site.

when i arrived onsite demolition was in progress, with a large crane taking apart the backside of one of the two buildings (possibly a former horse stable). the project manager is well aware that i am constantly searching for "raw" building materials to bolster my ever-growing library of carefully documented artifacts and "systems" for researching the materials and methods of chicago building construction between 1830-1890.

so i was not surprised when he set aside a few massive hand wrought iron tie rods, for me to feast my eyes on. i was equally delighted to see others completely intact (i.e., as a system "in situ") on two of the gargantuan girders. i photographed the unusual tie rods from every conceivable angle so that i could later display them correctly when documented back in the studio.

judging from the facades of the two adjoining buildings, my "gut feeling" was 1860's-era construction. the hand-carved sandstone window hoods with centrally located keystones were largely unornamented with the exception of a distinctive faceted or diamond-shaped design i've seen on several other two and three-story civil war-era building window hood treatments throughout the midwest.

if the exterior keystones or window "hoods" contained deeply incised abstract floral motifs, i would be leaning toward dating the building to the early to mid-1870's, which was a distinctive design treatment adorning several massive loft buildings constructed along lake street shortly after the fire (nearly all have since been demolished).

in addition, when i managed to secure a few white pine wood structural members, including a massive floor joist (see below) used on an upper floor, the crudity surrounding the "up/down" saw markings were very distinct or pronounced throughout, which again, are the type of saw markings found on the lumber used to build commercial and residential structures as early as the 1830's in chicago.

even the heads of the cut nails were very crude and resembled various nails found at the john kent russell house (1855) as opposed to the early, yet more refined wrought iron square nails containing distinctive embossed circles or squares that i come across time and again on structures built shortly after the great chicago fire.

when i returned after the buildings were reduced to rubble the project foreman set aside a single rough cut sandstone window key and more intact wrought iron tie rods and/or bolts used to hold the two load-bearing girders/timbers together. when i paid for the effort and items set aside, i grabbed a few bricks and other odds and ends to add to this "case study."

a worker who had discovered a few artifacts from the site of the ryerson mansion mentioned to me that he found an old newspaper buried in one of the masonry walls that dated to 1862. that bit of information made my day. it was unfortunate that it crumbled to pieces when he removed it. at least he managed to find a fragment that contained a date. i wish he had saved that for me. i would have carefully cleaned and photographed it and had it framed; treating it as another artifact to add to the small collection of materials gathered from the site.

i consider myself fortunate to have secured a few artifacts that no doubt reflect the construction methodology of a pre-fire chicago commercial building that is now apart of a very long and seemingly unending list of structures brought down by the wrecking ball. despite the loss of another early chicago structure, i at the very least, did what i could by capturing images and securing materials (for future analysis) of this civil war-era chicago building before it vanished without a trace.