a look back at lost chicago workers cottages in 2019

whether being plagued with perpetual burnout or battling time constraints - or both, i was only able to capture a small fraction of 19th and early 20th century chicago cottages destroyed in 2019. i'm posting whatever's easily accessible before i feel the urge to toss my laptop into the lake.

i'm toying with the idea of amassing all of my images and notes documenting the destruction of chicago buildings over the past decade for publication, but that might be overkill, if not outright insane. perhaps that's a cue to drop off the grid for a long time and resurface down the road. of course that will never happen, and i will continue capturing the loss of chicago's historic cityscape as it gets pelted with a seemingly endless number of demolition permits year after year.

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive.

DETAILED SURVEY OF 19TH CENTURY COTTAGES IN WICKER PARK UNDERWAY

19TH CENTURY TWO-FLAT AND A SINGLE-STORY WORKERS COTTAGE ON FREMONT STREET AWAIT DEMOLITION

VANISHING CITYSCAPE: WRECKERS TAKE DOWN TWO POST-FIRE 1870S CHICAGO COTTAGES IN SINGLE WEEK

TWO-STORY 19TH CENTURY BELL STREET WORKERS COTTAGE IN BUCKTOWN ISSUED DEMOLITION PERMIT

TWO-STORY 1880'S HURON STREET BRICK CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE WITH JOLIET LIMESTONE WINDOW HOODS SET TO BE DEMOLISHED IN COMING DAYS

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW: TWO SINGLE-STORY 19TH CENTURY CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGES FACED WITH DEMOLITION

VALDEMAR MORTONSEN 1876 TWO-STORY COTTAGE WITH FREAR "ARTIFICIAL STONE" WINDOW HOODS AND KEYSTONES DEMOLISHED

A WELL-MAINTAINED POST-FIRE CHICAGO COTTAGE ON MOHAWK WILL SOON BE REDUCED TO RUBBLE AND CARRIED OFF TO LANDFILL

TWO-STORY POST-FIRE WORKERS COTTAGE BUILT FOR VALDEMAR MORTONSEN IN 1876 FACES DEMOLITION

BLDG. 51 FORMING NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION FOR PRESERVING CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGES

POST-FIRE CHICAGO BRICK WORKERS COTTAGE WITH RARE "ARTIFICIAL STONE" EXTERIOR ORNAMENT FACES DEMOLITION

images of non-extant chicago cottages not included in blog posts: