collection of images from this week's visit to a. finkl & sons foundry undergoing demolition

the assemblage of photographic images shown in the gallery below offer a glimpse of my most recent visit (two consecutive days of shooting) to the notable a. finkl & sons chicago foundry that is rapidly being taken apart and discarded by several on-site excavators operated by the heneghan wrecking company.

with assistance from my salvage crew, i continue to discover industrial objects or artifacts that i find appealing in one way or another. just the other day i was pleased to identify and remove an original c. 1920's 40-ton gantry crane manufacturer's plaque bolted against the railing of an overhead hoist. after securing the plaque and the corresponding identification number, i eagerly removed the old layers of paint that had obscured the lettering and brushed the plaques to bare metal. the end result photographed in my studio is shown below.

aside from selectively gathering artifacts from the various buildings undergoing demolition, i have spent much more time photographing the industrial landscape containing piles of rubble, machinery and the remaining buildings in the coming weeks. in addition, i've systematically documented the exterior/interior of each outbuilding, and finally, intimately captured the weathered and worn surfaces of the remaining gantry cranes, various structural components, and antiquated electrical devices that have succumbed to the elements.

i suspect this large-scale industrial salvage has at least a few more months before any and all structures will be reduced to rubble and hauled off to the nearby scrapyard and/or landfill. there may not be much left to salvage, but i will stick around until the very end with my camera in hand to document the completion of this once thriving industrial operation transition (or rather vanish) into thin air.