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classic chicago brick two-flat constructed in 1909 salvaged shortly before wrecking machine arrives

with only two days before demolition of an early 20th century two-story brick residence began, we had very limited time to salvage an interior outfitted in pristine golden oak wood millwork on both the first and second floors. from door headers to built-in cabinets, and everything in between, there was a great deal of work cut out for us.

unfortunately, nearly a day after the green fence went up, a local vandal made his way through the house without authorization and essentially burglarized the site by taking a few key architectural artifacts in a very haphazard fashion. this individual is well-known for this practice of perpetual break-ins and theft among local wreckers, so we were warned that the house had been "picked."

we were a bit discouraged by this opportunistic grab, since it is such laborious work to salvage correctly, adhering to the field's case-by-case guidelines. this includes generating legitimate salvage contracts, training, and equipment, and having sufficient insurance required by all wreckers before stepping foot onto a jobsite.

in any case, the first things we removed were several multi-panel oak wood doors, including mirrored closet doors, beveled edge glass pane vestibule and entrance doors, and swinging doors with "florentine" pattern glass (likely fabricated by the pittsburgh glass company). most of the ornamental wrought steel hardware, manufactured by the p. & f. corbin company, had "disappeared."

the house was built at a time when combination gasoliers and electroliers were still quite common, and most of the light fixtures had been replaced overtime. still a few sconces and an oversized vestibule light with deeply grooved frosted shade remained intact. the combination gas and electric fixtures were fabricated by or for prominent chicago lighting manufacturer, r. williamson & company. the millwork was most likely supplied by chicago-based foster and munger (founded in 1892), who by the early 20th century, were one of the largest suppliers of doors, blinds, sash, and so on. one of their office buildings is still standing in what is known as the "central manufacturing district on the south side of chicago.

perhaps the highlight of the salvage was the discovery and removal of a copper-framed skylight, with protruding pyramidal-shaped pipe vent and heavily reinforced plate glass panels containing sandwiched steel chicken wire. the copper frame contained a nicely aged surface patina from prolonged exposure to the elements. the double-pitched skylight with all-copper flashing was installed in 1909 by knisely & company of chicago, ills.

from the underside and resting above the stairwell, the original oversized multi-pane solid oak wood roof "window" was virtually pristine, with no major water damage evident. the original glass panes, consisting of "pebbled" texture glass were free from breaks. in all, i was truly amazed at the exceptional condition both units were in, with very little wear or alteration since the time of construction in 1909.

 

before we concluded, i wanted to secure a stud section to carefully study the early  20th century building components and compare it to my 19th century specimens (the earliest stud sample dating to the late 1840's). while driving back i immediately noticed that the cuts were more smooth and uniform since the machinery used in the lumber yards or millwork factories had made tremendous strides in achieving greater precision or consistency while handling massive quantities of lumber.

also by this time the square nail had been almost entirely replaced with the wire nail, so i wasn't surprised to see them used in abundance. lastly (though i could go on and on), the studs were made from douglas fir trees instead of pine wood. based on the samples collected from houses dating to the mid-20th century, pine was the predominant wood type used in 19th century chicago construction, with white pine being the most popular choice early on. i noticed too that the fire-stops (which are basically boards bridged between the studs to seal or divide the spacious cavities from balloon frame construction) were configured in the exact same way as in other early 20th century houses i've observed - that is, positioned at alternating angles between the studs.

the house is set to be completely demolished and the land it sat on excavated shortly after, likely finishing by the end of november. in other words any trace of its existence will be completely wiped off the map. the exception, it seems, will be the photographs taken and artifacts salvaged during this process. these i hope will live on in some other period home, perhaps one that is not as historically intact and badly needs the materials that are lost through countless remuddlings.

american radiator company

 



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