cook county hospital's facade cleaned, repair of its terra cotta ornament to follow

i've taken nearly four thousand images of cook county hospital's facade restoration in a matter of 4-5 weeks time. the following 100+ images provide a "timeline" of the building's facade undergoing restoration work, largely in the form of cleaning the facade from grime and/or air  pollutants accumulated since its last cleaning in 1953. the hotel was completed in 1913.

8-23-2018: photographing the restoration of cook county hospital's terra cotta and limestone facade is a welcome change from documenting/salvaging chicago buildings undergoing demolition. i hope to record this transformation for months to come - from beginning to end.

8-23-2018: photographing the restoration of cook county hospital's terra cotta and limestone facade is a welcome change from documenting/salvaging chicago buildings undergoing demolition. i hope to record this transformation for months to come - from beginning to end.

8-24-2018: after returning from a brief trip, i made my way over to cook county hospital (1913-14) to continue documenting the restoration of the building's facade. i was amazed at how quickly they are moving along, scrubbing decades worth of grime from the glazed terra cotta and bedford limestone.

8-27-18: cook county hospital (1914) exterior terra cotta ornament before and after images. not the greatest examples, but i'm pressed for time at the moment. the facade was last cleaned in 1953. note: the "before" images were taken in 2016 i believe.

8-28-2018: cook county hospital (1914) exterior terra cotta ornament before and after images. not the greatest examples, but i'm pressed for time at the moment. the facade was last cleaned in 1953. note: the "before" images were taken in 2016 i believe.

8-30-2018: a few additional images of the cook county hospital facade cleaning taken on the 28th. i'm disappointed i didn't make it there yesterday, but i will certainly carve out time today - need to see this through until the scaffolding goes up.

9-2-2018: for weeks now, i've been documenting the cleaning crew crawl across cook county hospital's gargantuan facade to remove decades of grime. your efforts don't go unnoticed...

9-6-2018: a facade in transition... the cleaning of cook county hospital's facade is nearly completed. the historic chicago hospital was completed in 1914 by cook county architect paul gerhardt. scaffolding being erected for repair work on the windows, terra cotta, limestone, etc.

9-12:2018: with cook county hospital's facade cleaned, scaffolding is being erected to stabilize/repair damaged areas on the facade. replication/replacement of ornamental terra cotta will likely be handled by gladding mcbean - one of only a few companies still manufacturing terra cotta.