Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

Antique American Architectural Artifacts

  1. eric j. nordstrom’s chicago architectural ornament photographic survey (caos) for october 2022

    eric j. nordstrom’s chicago architectural ornament photographic survey (caos) for october 2022
    latest photographic images from eric j. nordstrom and/or bldg. 51 archive's chicago architectural ornament survey (caos) provided below. the ever-expanding photo-documentation project focuses on systematically recording any and all architectural ornament located on historically important 19th and early 20th century extant buildings located in downtown chicago and surrounding neighborhoods. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive...
  2. urban remains and bldg. 51 museum grand opening set for early november 2022

    urban remains and bldg. 51 museum grand opening set for early november 2022
    grand opening of the urban remains showroom and bldg. 51 musuem is set for mid-november. details, including press release, to follow. latest photos of the gallery (a work in progress) posted below.  images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, bldg. 51 archive, and urban remains llc. all rights reserved. 2022. 
  3. photographic survey of walter burley griffin's brick and stone cornell store and flats (1908)

    photographic survey of walter burley griffin's brick and stone cornell store and flats (1908)
    detailed photogrpahic survey of walter burley griffin's cornell store and flats (1908), located at 1230-32 e. 75th street. the combination commerial and residential structure was was built as an investment property by the estate of paul cornell, a new york lawyer who moved to chicago in 1853. the prairie style building griffin's last commission in the united states before moving...
  4. tradesman's beer bottle discovered in the wall of a 19th century chicago cottage undergoing demolition

    tradesman's beer bottle discovered in the wall of a 19th century chicago cottage undergoing demolition
    a 19th century two-flat (discussed in a previous post) has been reduced to rubble, but the discovery of an aqua blobtop miller beer bottle (with intact lighting stopper) left in a wall exposed during the final moments of demolition, has made it worthwhile to photo-document the demolition from beginning to end. in fact, halfway through the demolition, another bottle was...
  5. photographic survey of faber and pagel's thalia hall (1892) bedford limestone exterior

    photographic survey of faber and pagel's thalia hall (1892) bedford limestone exterior
    a collection of photographic images documenting thalia hall's exterior bedford limestone facade, designed by the architectural firm of faber and pagel for john dusek in 1892.  several images focus on the oversized tapered keystone, depicting a deeply carved "green man" with stoic expression, surrounded by richly ornamented foilage. the green man is a legendary being primarily interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, representing the...
  6. photographic study of late 19th and early 20th century chicago commerical building hardware housed in the bldg. 51 archive.

    photographic study of late 19th and early 20th century chicago commerical building hardware housed in the bldg. 51 archive.
    the image gallery offers a somewhat comprehensive visual representation of ornamental builders' hardware found in chicago's commerical buildings built between the 1880s to the depression. the majority of the hardware is custom-designed, often by the hand of the leading architect or architectural firm tied to the design and construction of the building. in other cases a building was outfitted with...
  7. bldg. 51 musuem archive aquires sizable collection of seldom found great chicago fire stereoview cards

    bldg. 51 musuem archive aquires sizable collection of seldom found great chicago fire stereoview cards
    the bldg. 51 museum archive recently acquired a large collection of rare and seldom found great chicago fire stereoview cards made and distributed shortly after the fire was extinguished in early october, 1871. several photographers are represented, with hand-written notations on verso. the following gallery represents a small fraction of the stereoviews now in the archive. images courtesy of the...
  8. deconstructing sullivan-designed chicago stock exchange terra cotta entrance arch during building's demolition in 1972

    deconstructing sullivan-designed chicago stock exchange terra cotta entrance arch during building's demolition in 1972
    richard nickel images chronicling the systematic deconstruction of adler and sullivan's terra cotta chicago stock exchange entrance arch during the early stages of the building's demolition in 1972. the louis sullivan-designed buff-colored terra cotta arch was the building's primary entrance facing la salle street. the terra cotta sections were carefully labeled and stored until the arch was reconstructed at the...
  9. five historically important pre-and-post great chicago fire building keystones

    five historically important pre-and-post great chicago fire building keystones
    five historically important commercial and residential keystones from the bldg. 51 museum collection.  one of a kind original and intact museum-quality and historically important single ornamental hand carved exterior solid keystone salvaged from a pre-fire chicago german school (later known as the gethsemane missionary baptist church) constructed in 1869.       the oversized side entrance keystone is one of the...
  10. rare majolica tiles, john wellborn root-designed ornament, chicago fire stereoviews, and faries lighting added in october

    rare majolica tiles, john wellborn root-designed ornament, chicago fire stereoviews, and faries lighting added in october
    the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of october, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to their respective website categories. any and all cataloged...
  11. albert sullivan house (1892): from beginning to end.

    albert sullivan house (1892): from beginning to end.
    adler and sullivan's albert sullivan residence (1892) as it appeared in 1890's, 1956, and 1969. sullivan himself lived there from 1892-1896, followed by his brother albert, who resided there with his family from 1896 to 1905. the house was meticulously deconstructed in 1970 with the intention of rebuilding elsewhere. carefully labeled sections of the bedford limestone facade (e.g., lunette, columns...
  12. a photographic survey of adler and sullivan's auditorium building tower from top to bottom

    a photographic survey of adler and sullivan's auditorium building tower from top to bottom
    the following images offer a detailed visual documentation of adler and sullivan's auditorium tower (1889). the base is comprised of granite provided by the minnesota granite company (quarried in the vermillion iron ore mines of st. louis county minnesota). additional granite was provided by the hallowell company, located in maine (the stone was quarried from both fox island and spruced...
  13. representative collection of 19th and early 20th american architectural figural building artifacts

    representative collection of 19th and early 20th american architectural figural building artifacts
    the following images represents a small, but representative collection of figural and/or emblematic american architectural artifacts housed in the bldg. 51 musuem. the majority of the architectural elements are comprised of terra cotta and were salvaged in and around chicago.  all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2022.
  14. documenting and deconstructing the 19th century chicago workers cottage

    documenting and deconstructing the 19th century chicago workers cottage
    for nearly two decades - if not longer - i've witnessed countless irreplaceable mid-to-late 19th century wood-framed worker cottages targeted for rapid removal and erasure. for the most part every site is the same, where i must carefully and methodically parse through each and every component of a cottage as it's rapidly torn apart before my eyes - usually in...
  15. chicago skyline in terra cotta: a closer look at the unusual facade of the kirchbaum building (1922)

    chicago skyline in terra cotta: a closer look at the unusual facade of the kirchbaum building (1922)
    terra cotta skyline. the kirchbaum building, located at 6560 n. sheridan rd., was designed in 1922 by the architectural firm of ronneberg, pierce and hauber. the terra cotta city skyline mural is comprised of three recessed panels, beginning with fort dearborn and ending with the wrigley building. the two-story commercial building was built for clothing manufacturer bernard kirshbaum as an...
  16. images of adler and sullivan's kehilath ma'arav synagogue (1890) taken in 1965 and again in 1973

    images of adler and sullivan's kehilath ma'arav synagogue (1890) taken in 1965 and again in 1973
    the first group of images, taken by richard nickel and harold allen, date to 1965. timothy j. samuelson's kodachromes show the interior as it appeared in 1973. a disastrous fire gutted the building in 2006, leaving the outer bedford limestone walls, supported by steel skeletal bracing. 1965: 1973: recreated and/or surviving ornament designed by adler and sullivan in 1890: images...
  17. urban remains showroom and bldg. 51 musem: staging progress through pictures in summer of 2022

    urban remains showroom and bldg. 51 musem: staging progress through pictures in summer of 2022
    formal grand opening of the urbans remains showroom and bldg. 51 musuem and archive will likely be pushed back to late october, when tranfer of any and all museum and/or historically important building artifacts are removed from crates and installed. in the meantime, i'm posting additional photos of the gallery (a work in progress) as it nears completion.  images courtesy...
  18. reconstructing the garrick, adler and sullivan's lost masterpiece, featured in fine books magazine

    reconstructing the garrick, adler and sullivan's lost masterpiece, featured in fine books magazine
    NEWS | SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 2022 Alice Award for Illustrated Books Winner Announced COURTESY OF FURTHERMORE GRANTS IN PUBLISHING    Hudson, NY — Furthermore grants in publishing, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, is pleased to announce the 2022 Alice is awarded to Alphawood Foundation, Chicago, IL for its publication, Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece (Alphawood Foundation, Chicago, 2021). The beautifully...
  19. over 15 years of urban remains, eric j. nordstrom and bldg. 51 musuem in photos

    over 15 years of urban remains, eric j. nordstrom and bldg. 51 musuem in photos
    over 22 years and hundreds of thousands of images later, urban remains et al. trudges on (let's hope).  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA images courtesy of of eric j. nordstrom. all rights reserved. 2022. 
  20. Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece wins prestigious 2022 Alice Award

    Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece wins prestigious 2022 Alice Award
    Chirag G. Badlani, Executive Director of Alphawood Foundation Chicago, is pleased to announce that the Foundation has won the 2022 Alice Award for its publication, Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece (Alphawood Foundation Chicago, 2021). The lavishly illustrated, 352-page book was edited by John Vinci with Tim Samuelson, Eric Nordstrom, and Chris Ware, and designed by Chris Ware...

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