Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

Antique American Architectural Artifacts

  1. remembering the non-extant matthew uhl rowhouse (1871) through the discovery of a newel post

    remembering the non-extant matthew uhl rowhouse (1871) through the discovery of a newel post
    over the christmas holiday we visited family and friends in my hometown of la crosse wisc. during our stay, and like others past, i managed to find time to photograph the ever-changing urban landscape (including an old train yard) in and around the downtown area. quite a bit has changed since i left la crosse in the late 1990's for...
  2. a sampling of salvaged machine age illuminated informational signs acquired over the years

    a sampling of salvaged machine age illuminated informational signs acquired over the years
    the photographic image gallery below represents a variety of mostly illuminated depression era informational and/or exit signs salvaged from theaters and commercial buildings across the country. the art deco style "machine age" signs were designed by numerous manufacturers, but identifying them has proved to be somewhat challenging at times. the great majority of glass globes, fashioned in ruby red, "milk...
  3. chicago residential backyard privy pit yields several 19th century "blob top" glass soda bottles

    chicago residential backyard privy pit yields several 19th century "blob top" glass soda bottles
    a very deep, brick-lined backyard privy pit was discovered on another job site yesterday where the house on the lot was constructed in the late 1880's according to city records. as of late, the brick-lined holes we have come across where originally used as privy pits, but with the introduction of indoor plumbing (where installation varied widely), the deep holes...
  4. urban remains kicks off the new year with several newly listed items

    urban remains kicks off the new year with several newly listed items
    the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21, 600 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available...
  5. unearthing a former parking lot yields a wealth of artifacts from chicago's past

    unearthing a former parking lot yields a wealth of artifacts from chicago's past
    beginning last week we were notified of a major excavation where a former parking lot will be redeveloped for condo construction. consisting of several lots, this massive parcel of land once contained multiple brick and wood-framed dwellings, according to sanborn insurance maps dating back to 1886 and another from 1917. after only a few short days into the dig, the...
  6. a "behind the scenes" tour of the henry b. clarke house: chicago's oldest residence

    a "behind the scenes" tour of the henry b. clarke house: chicago's oldest residence
    there is already abundant and easily accessible background information on the henry b. clarke house (1836), one of chicago's earliest extant residential structures-turned museum, so i will avoid the inclusion of details surrounding the history of the house. instead, i will briefly touch upon some of the more interesting facets of my visit there, which included a "behind the scenes...
  7. pontiled bottles tossed from a passing schooner in the early 1850's discovered at wolf point

    pontiled bottles tossed from a passing schooner in the early 1850's discovered at wolf point
    the focal point of wolf point "part two" moves away from the discovery of several mid-19th century pontiled soda and/or mineral water bottles during excavations in the 1980's, which were retrieved from intact wood-lined privy pits built and later filled by individuals that resided near the sauganash hotel and wolf point tavern. instead, we fast forward to 2014, where another...
  8. assortment of american victorian era "real bronze" hopkins & dickinson's hardware recently added

    assortment of american victorian era "real bronze" hopkins & dickinson's hardware recently added
    urban remains recently obtained a sizeable amount of well-maintained and intricately designed "real bronze" interior residential entrance, passage and pocket door hardware designed and fabricated by the hopkins & dickinson mfg. co., new york city, ny. the patterns exhibited in the builders' hardware or "trimmings" was likely first introduced in their 1874 product catalog and remained available for purchase in their...
  9. new york city subway sub-station open or "live" front switchboard with faux marbleized slate panel

    new york city subway sub-station open or "live" front switchboard with faux marbleized slate panel
    extraordinary and very rare early 20th century remarkably intact new york city subway sub-station single panel open front switchboard designed and fabricated by the metropolitan electric mfg. co., new york city, ny. metropolitan was founded in 1892 and went on to manufacture electrical equipment in addition to switchboards well into the 20th century. period advertisements offer a glimpse at some...
  10. phenomenal acquisition, consisting of several figural anglo-japanese parlor stove majolica tiles, arrived today

    phenomenal acquisition, consisting of several figural anglo-japanese parlor stove majolica tiles, arrived today
    earlier this afternoon i managed to secure an incredibly huge lot of visually striking and vibrantly colored anglo-japanese style residential parlor stove figural majolica tiles designed and fabricated for notable stove maker, sherman s. jewett & company, buffalo, ny. the exceptionally well-designed glazed ceramic tiles were designed specifically for use with jewett stoves during the american aesthetic movement in the...
  11. several new items added to the urban remains website over the weekend

    several new items added to the urban remains website over the weekend
    the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available for...
  12. a mid-19th century soda bottle discovered during excavations at wolf point; more to follow

    a mid-19th century soda bottle discovered during excavations at wolf point; more to follow
    i recently acquired a remarkable cobalt blue iron pontil glass soda bottle that was recovered from a wood-lined privy pit dating to the 1850's. interestingly, the bottle is not native to chicago, although other bottles found where identified as chicago-based lomax and competitor hutchinson, who had bottling operations during this time period. the image below was taken from the 1853 bird's...
  13. ultimate victorian steampunk: the 19th century all original commercial "a.b.c" reel or fire hose swing-out bracket

    ultimate victorian steampunk: the 19th century all original commercial "a.b.c" reel or fire hose swing-out bracket
    this remarkable contraption, comprised of painted iron and wood, is a very early commercial building integrated fire hose reel and swing-out bracket manufactured by or for jno. c.n. guilbert of new york city. the date of fabrication is likely 1895-98. the firefighting device was made available shortly before a series of patents were filed for similar contraptions that were designed...
  14. "bottled in illinois" has proven to be a very resourceful guide to have on hand when digging privy pits

    "bottled in illinois" has proven to be a very resourceful guide to have on hand when digging privy pits
    a detailed overview of this incredibly resourceful and gargantuan tome is written below by the authors. since purchasing this book, i have it on hand at every jobsite when the demolition phase has concluded and excavation of the lot begins. that way, i can immediately identify and catalog (on site) the bottles we discover in the privy pits. "in the...
  15. demolition of heavily modified 1885 chicago brick worker's cottage well underway

    demolition of heavily modified 1885 chicago brick worker's cottage well underway
    late in the afternoon we arrived at the site of a chicago worker's brick cottage constructed in 1885. the exterior had been substantially altered or remodeled over its lifespan, so there wasn't much to salvage in terms of architectural artifacts - both in terms of the interior and exterior. however, the building materials and methodologies were of great interest to...
  16. remarkable midway gardens alfonso iannelli-designed concrete "sprite" head cast directly from an original

    remarkable midway gardens alfonso iannelli-designed concrete "sprite" head cast directly from an original
    very few of the original "sprite" statues adorning midway gardens survived demolition in 1929. the indoor/outdoor entertainment facility was constructed in 1914 with frank lloyd wright as architect. the full-bodied statues were designed and executed by notable industrial designer and sculptor, alfonso iannelli. wright took much of the credit with the design process, which greatly upset iannelli to the point...
  17. a small sampling of newly acquired artifacts added to the urban remains website this week

    a small sampling of newly acquired artifacts added to the urban remains website this week
    the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available for...
  18. stones and signs at the valentin blatz brewing company office building

    stones and signs at the valentin blatz brewing company office building
    i happened upon the valentin blatz brewing company office building as i was leaving milwaukee. the weathered signage on an "outbuilding" prompted me to stop and photograph. my camera quickly moved towards the romanesque style office building constructed in 1890, with paul schnetzky as architect on record. the building at one point housed the beer baron restaurant, which featured a painted...
  19. salvaging building materials from an 1870's chicago two-story worker's cottage

    salvaging building materials from an 1870's chicago two-story worker's cottage
    as a late 1870's two story worker's cottage is rapidly being transformed into a growing pile of splintered old growth wood, i managed to work around the ongoing chaos and extract several intact building components that were used to build this modest 19th century hybrid frame dwelling; incorporating the use of balloon frame and post and beam construction. the interior...
  20. newly refinished antique medical cabinets, drafting tables and a mechanical clown added this week

    newly refinished antique medical cabinets, drafting tables and a mechanical clown added this week
    the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available for...

Items 1641 to 1660 of 1838 total



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