roofline ornament rescued from damen street graystone shortly after demolition permit issued

early in the morning i received notice that a late 19th century two-story graystone was handed a death sentence. after reviewing images of the facade, i was drawn to the matching leaded beveled glass transom windows and roofline ornament consisting of cast iron cresting or "window's walk" and an oversized ornamented tin ball-topped finial resting atop the towering three-sided turret or projecting bay window. the end-caps flanking the off-centered turret are comprised of pressed and folded tin with pyramidal-shaped finials.

the heavily ornamented iron single-sided cresting was fabricated by either barbee wire & iron works or more likely, the f.p. smith wire and iron works since a nearly identical cresting pattern was found in one of their period catalogs. the lightweight tin work was deigned and fabricated by the friedley & voshardt company (all three companies operated in chicago).

after an hour focused on documenting and carefully extracting the exterior ornament, we turned inwards, where only a few architectural fittings original to the house were discovered intact and largely unaltered. nearly every flush mount louvered wall and floor grate (fabricated by hess warming and ventilating company and the tuttle and bailey company respectively) were found on both the first and second floors.

the original hardware appeared to have been fabricated by yale and towne, but other design patterns furnished by additional hardware companies were likely added over the years, which is rather common in houses of this age. the fireplace mantles, doors and millwork had been removed, altered, painted or heavily damaged. the interior lighting was upgraded sometime in the late 1940's. the original beveled glass transom window were intact and likely supplied by the foster-munger company, chicago, ills.

the house is slated to be demolished early next week, so we managed to remove any and all salvageable material inside and out. the interior alterations were by no means damaging enough to merit a complete "gut-rehab." in fact, the well-maintained exterior and partially intact interior could have been a manageable restoration "project" to preserve its original period characteristics that could easily and tastefully co-existed with modern day amenities. instead, the 19th century graystone will be quickly brought down and replaced with yet another indistinguishable "cookie cutter" condo or single family residence that continues to whittle away at the neighborhood's already torn historic fabric.

thankfully, the salvaged materials will eventually be given a second life somewhere they are badly needed or will at least be admired, in a setting more sympathetic or inviting to this type of architectural style. by no means is this "process" ideal, but at the very least, irreplaceable artifacts are given the appreciation they deserve.