a look back at pre-fire chicago cottages documented and deconstructed over past several years

 i've slowly begun the arduous task of organizing all of the data i've amassed from years of identifying and deconstructing or extracting components and systems from chicago worker cottages erected prior to the great chicago fire of 1871. unfortunately, the acquisition of materials, recording of methods and identifying the approximate build date came at the expense of destruction through demolition, where countless cottages were pulled apart and exposed, which at the very least, revealed critical data that otherwise would have remained hidden and/or inaccessible, no matter how much periphery research was employed to discover what could only be discovered through demolition. 

after reviewing over a thousand blog posts created over the past five years - when worker cottages were being destroyed at a feverish pace across chicago -  i decided to begin a list of ones that revealed a tremendous amount of data and insight into the materials and methods used to build chicago worker cottages i identified as being built between 1847-1869. future blog posts pertaining to my work on chicago worker cottages will touch upon other topics, including virtual catalogs of materials extracted and shot in studio setting, along with artifacts and objects left behind by the tradesmen who built the cottages and the occupants who lived in them. 

JOHN KENT RUSSELL HOUSE (1855) LIVES ON THROUGH ITS ARTIFACTS REMOVED ABOVE AND BELOW GROUND

ONE OF CHICAGO'S OLDEST COTTAGES, REPLETE WITH HEWN BEAMS, DISCOVERED THROUGH ITS UNTIMELY DEMISE

PRE-FIRE COTTAGE DEMOLITION BEHIND URBAN REMAINS OFFERS A GLIMPSE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD'S PAST

PEGGED MORTISE AND TENON JOINERY DISCOVERED IN TWO PRE-FIRE ERIE STEET WOOD FRAMED COTTAGES

ANOTHER MODEST PRE-FIRE CHICAGO BOARDING HOUSE HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT DEMOLISHED

2023 WEST ERIE STREET 1860'S WORKERS COTTAGE DEMOLISHED

VICTORIAN-ERA "SCHMIDT" COTTAGE AND FORMER ORGAN WORKSHOP ON EVERGREEN STREET SLATED FOR DEMOLITION

EXCAVATED 19TH CENTURY SODA BOTTLES GREATLY ASSIST IN DATING A NON-EXTANT CHICAGO COTTAGE AND ITS PRIVY PIT

DISCOVERY OF A MID-19TH CENTURY CHICAGO WOOD FRAMED COTTAGE WITH PEGGED LAP AND MORTISE AND TENON JOINTS

MORE MID-20TH CENTURY CHICAGO FRAMED WOOD COTTAGES DISCOVERED - THEN WRECKED

REVISITING A TRANSPLANTED 1850'S CHICAGO WOOD-FRAMED BOARDING HOUSE ON OHIO STREET

ANOTHER TRANSPLANTED 19TH CENTURY WOOD-FRAMED HOUSE ON MOZART REDUCED TO RUBBLE IN A MATTER OF HOURS

AN AFTERNOON OF EXPLORATORY SURGERY AT THE JOHN KENT RUSSELL (1855) RESIDENCE

all images and information courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, the bldg. 51 archive and the chicago worker cottage association.