the final days of adler & sullivan's 1884 martin barbe residence as documented by richard nickel

richard nickel images of adler & sullivan's martin barbe residence (1884) enlarged from multiple contact prints.
nickel documented the surrounding neighborhood (the house was located at 3157 south prairie avenue), the interior and exterior before and after the fire, and salvage efforts to remove ornament before the house was demolished in 1963. 

the ornamental pressed and folded tin lunette (facing prairie), red slip glazed terra cotta (e.g., chimney blocks, 3-part frieze panel, and square blocks that would later become a "stock" pattern made available by northwestern terra cotta), and other artifacts were rescued and sold to edwardville in 1965. the salvaged ornament is on permanent display at the university's lovejoy library.

images of david norris and nickel salvaging, loading, and reassembling the three-part terra cotta frieze - executed by  northwestern terra cotta company in a red slip glaze shown below:

additional comments (pertaining to the extraction of the oversized pressed and folded tin metal lunette) from a previous post on the 1963 barbe house salvage (with images) below:

these nickel images of the lunette strapped down on his car are fantastic. i get it, and thankfully, i'm not alone in this utter madnes. people stare, but you could care less. you do whatever it takes to get that coveted piece of ornament to safety. your car or truck might get trashed - it often does - but when you are saving historically important artifacts from the landfill "on the fly," you have very little choice. do what you can...

the terra cotta and tin pediment were salvaged by richard nickel and david norris from adler & sullivan's barbe house (1884) in 1963. the ornament is on public display at edwardsville. 

any and all images courtesy of the richard nickel archive, ryerson and burnham archives, art institute of chicago.