an extreme case of facedectomy: the complete removal of a joliet limestone facade adorning an 1875 chicago commerical building

the following sequence of images - with the exception of lintel ornament, and a deeply incised keystone recovered from the dumpster - capture the long and painful facadectomy of a milwaukee avenue commercial building (1875). its face had been adorned with the distinctive yellow-hued joliet limestone that is becoming increasingly rare on extant chicago buildings dating to the 1870's.

well over a year ago, maybe even longer, i salvaged the building's interior as it was undergoing a complete gut job which included the removal of most of the original joists and studs. when the dust settled, all that remained was a brick shell with a nice facade. when i got wind more recently that the facade would suffer the same fate i was in disbelief. i pestered the general contractor, pleading with him to let me extract the ornamental stone and fret-sawn wood lunettes. at first it seemed i had the salvage work locked down, but then he dropped off the map. i was forced to sit back and watch as the stone dropped through chutes into waiting dumpsters. ugh. at least i managed to secure a keystone fragment to add to bldg. 51's deconstructing chicago building material database.

if the facade was removed because of costly structural repairs the developers did not want to invest in, then at the very least, the building stays in place. still, perhaps its new identity is worse than wholesale demolition. many a passerby will walk, bike or drive along this busy thoroughfare and pay little attention to its latest incarnation - a bland building left with a gaping void in its visual integrity. sadly, with the exception of a few ornate stone pieces, the remainder of the stone was broken up with chipping hammers and hauled off in a parade of dumpsters.