documenting the anatomy of balloon frame houses remains strong despite seasonal drop in residential demolitions

regardless of season or day of the week, i remain busier then ever -- devoted to delivering meaningful posts and revising the pile of projects that were set on the back-burner when multiple demolitions were taking place each week. i spend every night reviewing photo-documentation, and researching the massive array of artifacts collected from demolition sites (some dating back to the early days of this business).

it's a never-ending process, and i know i can only blame myself for setting such rigorous standards for daily output. stressed or not, i push on to complete a task, only to quickly move on to another. over the past month or so, i've been lamenting the instances of building material that i have yet to write about or share imagery on. among these, the bulk of the building materials extracted from balloon frame houses (dating between 1850-1890) were set aside shortly after the salvage was completed. having to move on to the next project, i simply did not have the time to photograph them, "in the rough" or refinished.

although i'm not terribly satisfied sharing these remarkably crafted building materials without assigning an individual narrative (e.g., date, address, building type, maker, etc.), i am content to provide the reader with a glimpse of the base object (some will recognize the functionality of a given piece). i feel that my pursuit to analyze historic building materials and methodologies must remain relevant or fresh in people's minds, thus i have no choice but to churn out blog posts that may be thin in story but at least portray current or in-progress projects. blogging is also a way for me to keep track of my work, to show myself and interested subscribers that "deconstructing chicago" has not been abandoned or given less attention.

as of late, i just finished creating a makeshift "laboratory" next door to the bldg. 51 museum and office, to study the materials i collect in greater depth than ever before. whether it means learning paint analysis or decoding the incised markings on the ends of joists, i am determined to take the time and find answers to the mountain of questions that continually arise. these winter months, filled with days of bone-chilling cold temperatures, will force me to stay indoors and conduct my research in a safe and controlled manner - the complete antithesis of being on a job site in warmer months, where anything can happen.

the gallery below represents a small sampling of various chicago residential balloon frame "components" that i have finally gotten around to photodocument. several hundred more be processed when time permits. i'm more then happy to lend any and all artifacts and/or the images depicting them to researchers, historians, architects and so on free of charge. further arrangements can be made by contacting me to hammer out the logistics, espeically if pieces need to be shipped to institutions and so on.