knisely & miller exterior cornice salvaged from freemont street house demolition

i was pleasantly taken aback by the amount of community feedback and shared disgust over the demolition of an incredibly intact 19th century victorian era brick two-flat residence demolished late last week. the responses i received prompted me to expound upon a previous post pertaining to my salvage efforts connected with this house.

the question on everyone's mind was "why"? the structural integrity of the house was by no means a matter of concern, despite being over a 125 years old. even more remarkable was the fact that both the interior and exterior had not been altered much, since the date of construction sometime between 1884-1889. the original faux marble finish slate mantles were beautifully maintained, the windows and paneled doors retained the original decorative iron hardware, the heavily ornamented cast plaster ceiling medallions were still in place, albeit painted over several times over the years and the trimwork and wood floors were intact. on the exterior, the stained glass windows (twelve in total) were safely in place, the original entrance doors leading to the first and second story apartments were largely unaltered, the galvanized sheet iron cornice and cast iron widow's walk or roofline cresting was in great overall condition, and the red face brick, accentuated with limestone and red terra cotta "sunburst" blocks had not been painted over. in other words, if one were seeking a historic residence to call home, very little would have been required to bring it back to its original state, which is a true rarity to say the least.

despite this, the house was purchased with the sole intention of demolition, to be replaced by a newly-built house. the loss of this amazingly intact 19th century chicago two-flat is one thing, but after surveying the neighborhood i was equally disgruntled by the impact the new, modern home would have on the historic fabric of the surrounding neighborhood (which contains similar homes, constructed around the same time period). the since-demolished house was one of the few in which the existing alterations did not disrupt the historical integrity of the facade and its interior design elements.

these thoughts were swirling around in my mind as i arrived at the site in the early afternoon to salvage the exterior cornice, ornamental terra cotta bricks and collect building materials used in its construction (e.g., square nails, firring strips and lath, studs, and so on). the images below capture the salvage efforts that afternoon, along with the materials recovered and photographed in the studio later that night. none of my efforts bring the house back, but at the very least, i salvaged materials and photodocumented everything i could - both inside and out - for research purposes.

the pressed and folded galvanized sheet iron cornice used to crown the facade of this 19th century brick two-flat victorian residence was designed and fabricated by knisely & miller, with metal shops located on clinton street in downtown chicago (near the present day union station). the company focused primarily on roofing materials, including cornices, skylights, corrugated tin ceilings, etc., for both commercial and residential installations during the 1880's. black stenciled lettering discovered on the backside identified the maker. the protruding bracketed cornice segments were held together and anchored to the masonry with riveted joint malleable iron straps. the recessed or sunken panels between the corbels were embellished with ornamental floral design applique, in the form of round rosettes. the topmost pedimented or triangular segment contained an oversized centerpiece consisting of a "sunburst" rondel. with the exception of allover paint crazing, which was expected due to prolonged exposure to the elements, there was very little rust, degradation of the anchors or tie-rods or compromise in the structural integrity of the complete assemblage. said another way, this cornice was remarkable intact and well-maintained, considering age.

remnants recovered and photographed as they make their way into in the studio: