chronicling the destruction of 19th century commercial and residential chicago buildings

i'll be posting any and all my images of every 19th or early 20th century chicago house and/or commercial structure i've documented/salvaged over the past five years. this will be a work in progress, so except the chronology to be scattered. perhaps in time, i will extend my documentation of chicago's rapidly disappearing historic cityscape back another 5-10 years to make the demolition archive more detailed and comprehensive in scope and scale.

posted 7/1/2020:

the second german evangelical zion church, designed by chicago architect theodore duesing and completed in 1905, has been issued a demolition permit that will likely be released in the coming weeks.
the chicago church was built on the northeast corner of ashland and hastings for 35,000 with dimensions recorded as 60 x 114 feet.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted february 28, 2020:

amazingly intact 1880s chicago two-flat residence, accentuated with deeply incised joliet/lemont limestone window hoods, original stamped or pressed bracketed sheet metal cornice and dearborn foundry wrought and cast iron fence and newel posts, will be demolished next week. the house is located in west town on superior street.
if time permits, i hope to document further and arrange to salvage any and all architectural ornament.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted february 3, 2020:

a demolition permit was issued for jefferson park hospital (1922) late last week. according to building records, the architect was f.o. demoney, who designed a three-story addition made of brick and limestone.
the existing building replaced an impressive 19th century victorian mansion, where the hospital was first organized as a private institution by dr. john dill robertson in august of 1900.
it's highly unlikely that the neighboring 1870s italianate rowhouse with "athens marble" or joliet limestone facade, is in harm's way, but i can't be certain - nor would i be surprised.
i believe the hospital used it as a residence for nurses.

building address: 1400 w monroe street.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted january 27th, 2020:

1870s two-story red brick chicago workers cottage with distinctive frear's patent "artificial stone" window hoods or headers, accentuated with deeply incised abstract floral motifs, is set to be demolished in the coming weeks.
19th and early 20th century chicago worker cottages continue to be overlooked, not to mention being highly susceptible targets to make way for new development.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive and chicago workers cottage association

posted: january 6th, 2020:

unfortunately, i didn't have the bandwidth to continually document von holst's 40th street commonwealth edison substation, including its demolition, which is all but complete. when i arrived yesterday afternoon, all that remained were slabs of concrete and a partially exposed basement.
i was told that the site was essentially on "lockdown," which meant nothing could leave the site during demolition (i.e., salvaged ornament). thankfully, commonwealth edison's contract with the wrecker stipulated that the custom-designed exterior tile panels (a signature design element of von holst' substations) be carefully extracted and saved.

from a previous post: i documented von holst's doomed 40th street commonwealth edison substation shortly after returning from st. louis late last week. this is the second south side chicago substation designed by the architect facing the wrecking ball.
the larger station, with a more elaborate facade still stands, but is rapidly deteriorating from deferred maintenance and abandonment. i've included a few images of the station’s façade (also known as the gaitain building 1924) which is bedecked with carved bedford limestone rondels with lightbulbs and ornamental cast iron window surrounds.
public utilities magnate samuel insull commissioned von holt to design several stations in residential neighborhoods across the city of chicago during the early 20th century. the use of distinctive ornament was von holt’s solution to beautify these otherwise unsightly utilitarian complexes for greater curb appeal to appease neighborhood residents.
his earlier prairie style buildings were often accentuated with richly colored tiled panels arranged in simple geometric patterns. i’ve studied a few salvaged panels from demolished stations, but given the tiles are deeply embedded in concrete, it’s difficult to ascertain the manufacturer without damaging the tiles.
i suspect the 40th street building was an unmanned relay station, given its size and location, but i need to research further when time permits.

images courtesy of bld. 51 archive.

posted december 19, 2019:

images of two troubled late 19th century chicago two-story brick houses located on the west side of chicago. the first appears doomed, and the other will be demolished in the coming weeks. amazingly, both buildings retain their well-maintained bracketed cornices comprised of sheet metal (zinc).
the one boarded up features uniquely carved bedford limestone keystones including figure above door. the building facing demolition has ornamental stock pattern brick (anderson pressed brick company) panels and a portion of the original cast and wrought metal exterior fence.

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted november 9th, 2020:

a mid-to-late 1880s two-story chicago brick residence or workers cottage with lightly incised joilet limestone window hoods and dentiled wood cornice (the fret-sawn wood brackets were removed long ago) will be destroyed within the next few weeks.

the original double-door entrance with raised paneling accentuated with chamfered edges and jamb is largely intact. an addition was added shortly after the house was built. the original ornamental cast iron exterior newel posts and railing were fabricated by the dearborn foundry, chicago, ills.

the house is located in wicker park on elk grove avenue.

posted october, 13, 2019:

posted september 26, 2019:

back on the chopping block.
this 19th century chicago brick house with original joliet-lemont limestone window hoods incised with abstract floral motifs and intact fret-sawn bracketed wood cornice, was threatened with demolition in december of 2018, but thankfully it fizzled.
i was angered when i noticed another demolition permit was pulled for it a few days ago. i drove by the other day and noticed the power cut. it's only a matter of days/weeks before it's gone. i've included images from dec, 2018 and the other day.

so long.

posted september 24, 2019:

demolition permit issued/released the other day.
the 19th century residence, outfitted with early red slip terra cotta ornament (note the lion head rondel on the pediment) likely executed by the northwestern terra cotta, will be demolished to make way for a 22-story high-rise.
i need to reshoot (the images aren't great) and research this residence to determine build date, architect, and so on.

posted august 23, 2019:

ghost sign and name plaque exposed during demolition of 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings on fulton between halsted and green. i wish i had the time to research the buildings, espeically the one with the terra cotta name plaque and original dearborn foundry cast iron storefront.

well-maintained 19th century brick workers cottage with unadorned joliet limestone keystones and fret-sawn dentiled wood cornice destroyed late last week in wicker park.

posted june 24, 2019:

an 1880s victorian-era two-flat with deeply incised joliet limestone window hoods and original sheet metal cornice, along with a neighboring wood-framed cottage with newer brick facade will be destroyed this week.
the cottage was constructed in the 1870's, with a samuel rastall (occupation, printer) residing there in 1877, according to one of my lakeside directories.
the houses are located on fremont street near orchard, which has become the epicenter of multi-lot mcmansions replacing one cottage after another.
i will be posting images of two more houses that landed on my radar late last week.

note: the martin schnitzius workers cottage (1891) with red slip terra cotta ornament, is a few houses south of the two targeted for destruction. while there's no cause for alarm with this well-maintained gem, the neighborhood's historic fabric is fading fast.

posted may 24th, 2019:

posted may 14th, 2020:

posted may 9th, 2019:

posted april 19th, 2019:

my writing is a bit rusty as of late, so bear with me on this one.

this post-fire chicago two-story cottage has been on my personal list of “threatened” buildings for years now. with the surrounding neighborhood virtually unrecognizable since i first laid eyes on it, i knew it was on track for destruction – likely within a year.

sure enough, when the “for sale” sign quickly came and went in recent months, the green fence arrived and was erected quickly thereafter. thankfully i repeatedly documented this cottage and neighboring post-fire buildings – now gone – before the neighborhood is completely decimated, leaving a new housing stock you wouldn’t bother looking at.

this too, was the cottage that inspired me to launch the 501c3 chicago workers cottage association, which i hope will be a countermeasure that at the very least, will call greater attention to these overlooked and quickly vanishing structures – that, and hopefully make it more difficult to bash these buildings into the ground without notice. the mission statement is still a work in progress, as is the association itself (i can only do so much on my own).

the italianate style house was built around 1876, with printer valdemar mortonsen occupying it shortly after completed. the exterior facade retains the original fret-sawn pine wood bracketed cornice, oculus, and distinctive cast frear stone window hoods and keystones. it still sits below grade, before city streets were raised to accommodate sewer pipe sometime in the late 1870's.

at first i suspected it may have been an early 1850s-1860s single-story wood-framed cottage - possibly transplanted there from a nearby location, where it was then raised in the 1870s and bricked over and ornamented with typical italianate treatment. at the time, i had not been inside, so i was limited to data pulled from sanborns, city directories, and its exterior characteristics.

when demolition began yesterday afternoon however, and i finally had a chance to carefully evaluate the interior, i abandoned that idea altogether, concluding instead, that it was built as a two-story since, for example, the exposed sheathing below the cornice exhibited no traces or “shadows” of early clapboard (one of many dead giveaways i noted during demolition).

after studying several hundred chicago cottages before and during their demolition, i was surprised to see only one other example (from this era) where the second story was treated with a thin brick veener.

the two-story structure is a hybrid, with first floor comprised of load-bearing masonry walls supporting a wood-framed second story reinforced with heavily notched, nailed, and pegged white pine sill plates and girts used to support floor joists, wall studs, etc.. the interlocking mortised and tenoned sill plates rest directly against the outer brick walls. the second-floor sheathing consists of irregular-sized circular-sawn old growth white pine boards concealed with brick veneer matching the first floor.

inside, i was pleasantly surprised that the elaborately designed solid walnut wood "stock pattern" staircase and multi-part casings (executed by palmer, fuller, and company), were intact. the staircase was virtually untouched, with original oversized box-shaped newel post, elegantly turned and tapered spindles, and fret-sawn wood ornament applied to the stair stringers.

the windows and entrance are adorned with frear stone (i.e., artificial stone) window hoods consisting of segmented arches flanking centrally located oversized keystones with protruding anthemions or palmettes (a popular architectural design element used in the 1870s).

with the exception of the slightly modified door surround and newer door, the façade looked very much the way it did from the time it was built, which was all the more reason I made sure to meticulously document it before, during, and after demolition.

i’ve included additional images of structural “systems” i’ve extracted from similarly built houses of the period to make better sense of my lackluster and fragmented description.

posted april 9th, 2019:

an 1870's single-story brick workers cottage on mohawk was issued a demolition permit a few days ago. i would have documented it sooner, but was away in utah for several days.

despite being painted, the cottage retains much of its character, including bracketed pine wood cornice with fret-sawn corbels, lightly incised lemont limestone window hoods, and original entrance door jamb and transom.

i managed to pinpoint at least one it's occupants in my lakeside directory archive - a plasterer tradesman named peter linden, who resided there in 1877. when time permits, i will dig deeper.

the neighborhood is largely unrecognizable through the lens of the past. however, i did see and document an 1870's brick two-story with virtually identical cornice across the street. unfortunately, its posted for sale, but i suspect more for the land than the structure on it. it will join its neighbor in the landfill - it's only a matter of time.

posted on march 30, 2019:

destruction on dearborn...
the last pocket of 19th century residential buildings spanning three decades (i.e., 1870s, 1880s, 1890s) on a downtown chicago city block are undergoing demolition, beginning with the heavily modified three-story 1870s italianate to the far left.
the house in the middle features a painted brownstone (michigan sandstone) facade with projecting bay, decorative window hoods, and mansard roof punctuated with pedimented dormers.
the last to fall is an 1890s romanesque style 4-story with 3-sided projecting bay, ornamental stamped tin cornice and single arch above entrance. the facade is comprised of rusticated bedford limestone. need to carve out time to establish exact build dates, architects, etc.
at the very least, i did manage to salvage exterior ornamental wrought and cast iron window guards and stair railings fabricated by the dearborn foundry, chicago, ills., from two of the houses.

posted on february 25, 2019:

1890's two-story brick combination commercial and residential building in west town (1731 w erie street) will be DESTROYED in the next few weeks - maybe sooner. the 19th century building retains the original stamped tin or galvanized steel bracketed cornice, bedford limestone window hoods, endcaps, and "bullseye" ornamental bricks, executed by the anderson pressed brick company of chicago (see period ad and similar block housed in the bldg. 51 material collection).
the partially intact "no. 2" storefront, likely executed by the dearborn foundry, retains the original horizontal beam with ornamental cast iron rosettes.
the surrounding buildings were built around the same time period. the loss of this well-maintained building will not only tear a hole in the neighborhood's historic fabric, but likely invite future developers to wreck old and build new.

posted on april 24, 2019:

an amazingly intact and well-maintained post-fire brick workers cottage with original fret-sawn bracketed pine wood cornice, oculus, and frear or ransom's artificial stone incised window hoods with centrally located ornamental keystones, will be destroyed in the next week. the address is 1938 n. mohawk street.
the generously proportioned arch top two-over-two painted pine wood windows appear to be original. the raised wood panel door jamb is original, but the two entrance doors were no doubt added later. the cast iron newels, likely fabricated by the dearborn foundry, were added in the 1880's.
finally, i managed to pinpoint one of the home's occupants in an 1876 lakeside directory, a bookkeeper named william l. lindsay.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted february 14, 2019:

surreal to witness the top half (i.e., gable - no cornice - with original clapboard hanging on) of a 19th century cottage undergoing demolition split apart and slide into alley when studs mortised into the second story girt snapped.
if i had the time and resources, i would have salvaged this "system" for further study (i've done it before). i recall the sheathing being incredibly irregular and massive in size - consistent with the building materials and methods used in the construction of these cottages during the mid-19th century.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted on february 12, 2019:

back-to-back demolition of 1880’s victorian era commercial building and adjoining residential boarding house comprised of brick accentuated with joilet limestone ornament ornament. the commercial building was especially difficult to see destroyed since it retained the original dearborn foundry “no. 2” cast iron and steel front configuration, with three-sided ornamental cast iron columns supporting a long horizontal beam with simple radial fluted anchor rosettes.
i’ve researched/written extensively about cast iron “fronts” adorning late 19th century and early 20th century chicago commercial buildings executed by dearborn or union foundry so this configuration and ornament used is nothing new, but important, nonetheless. in addition to having period catalogs showing numerous facade configurations, i’ve managed to salvage a great deal of components from these “systems” for further study (see pics).
thankfully, heneghan wrecking offered me a little time to rush over and document the still-standing boarding house (note the dated 1887 pediment cornice) and salvage sections of the commercial building’s cast iron store front, including the columns flanking the main entrance and anchors with rosettes.

the image with the commercial building partially intact - showing the configuration of the cast iron "front," was taken by heneghan wrecking.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted on june 12th, 2018:

images of 170-172 n. halsted undergoing demolition. we salvaged anything and everything, including old elevator equipment and a pair of steel elevator doors. our work is done there, but i will likely stick around to document the building's destruction.
the modest early 20th century three-story commercial brick building was last occupied by aaron's machinery corporation.
past tenants include, but not limited to, the plasticast company (1951), the chicago glove and mitten company (1916), the savoy drug and chemical company (1921), and the mantel lamp company of america (1913).
as i was taking off my vest and hard hat, i looked back at the building, then over at greg - the foreman on the job. i told him how amazed and saddened i was over how much of the city's past has disappeared over the past 12 years... greg and i go way back. if i recall correctly, we first met at the nortown theater when it was being pounded into the ground. all of this makes me sick and tired.

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

posted on february 26th, 2018:

i finally a chance to leave my shop and shoot architectural ornament this afternoon. while driving around old town i recalled a demo permit issued for a structure on orchard. i had to triple-check the address (2252 n. orchard) when i pulled up...
how many times have i said the same things and shared the same photos?
again, another well-maintained post-fire chicago italianate style row house with wood bracketed cornice and original "artificial" stone window hoods will be reduced to rubble in a matter of weeks - maybe less. the interior had been divided into multiple apartments long ago, but the original turned solid walnut newel and spindles were left intact.
one of the images shows a newly-built house to the left. if i recall correctly, the house issued the death sentence is the only remaining portal to the past on the west side of the street. it's becoming increasingly difficult to document the unraveling of a neighborhood's historic fabric.

posted on march 31, 2018:

update from a previous post documenting the death of 2252 n. orchard - an 1870's post-fire italianate with original bracketed wood cornice and artificial stone window hoods with centrally located keystones.

i have never worked with this wrecker so i'm on the sidelines documenting the carnage. based on the now-destroyed solid walnut staircase with multi-faceted newel post and corbels found in the rubble, it clear no one secured salvaged rights. shame.

the original multi-part wood door casings and plaster crown molding were there all along - exposed after the drop ceiling was ripped away during demolition. i was delighted to discover and document these original architectural elements, but equally saddened that the discovery was made through the building's unnecessary destruction. again, shame.

original post:

i finally had a chance to leave my shop and shoot architectural ornament this afternoon. while driving around old town i recalled a demo permit issued for a structure on orchard. i had to triple-check the address (2252 n. orchard) when i pulled up...
how many times have i said the same things and shared the same photos?
again, another well-maintained post-fire chicago italianate style row house with wood bracketed cornice and original "artificial" stone window hoods will be reduced to rubble in a matter of weeks - maybe less.
the interior had been divided into multiple apartments long ago, but the original turned solid walnut newel and spindles were left intact.
one of the images shows a newly-built house to the left.
sadly, the house issued the death sentence is the only remaining portal to the past on the west side of the street, and there are three giant mcmansions due south of it.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted january 25th, 2018:

posted august 20th, 2017:

the 19th century two-flat (previous post) has been reduced to rubble, but the discovery of an aqua blobtop miller beer bottle (with intact lighting stopper) left in a wall exposed during the final moments of demolition, was a gratifying experience.

i have no doubt that the bottle, dating to 1888-1892, was deliberately left by a tradesmen - a plasterer in this case. the bottle was consumed and then plugged with plaster. the stopper, comprised of a metal bail and lever wire is completely intact.

posted june 30th, 2016:

one of chicago's oldest cottages, replete with hewn beams, discovered through its untimely demise.

've spent hours pouring over j.t. palmatary's illustrated "birdseye view" of chicago as it looked in 1857. in fact, i had the entire map blown up so large, i had to use a truck to deliver it to my downtown office. although it is remarkably detailed, especially in its geographical features and notable buildings, the artist appears to have distorted the many cottages sporadically dotting the largely undeveloped and sequestered tracts of land west of downtown, perhaps using a bit of imaginative wrangling to place structures approximately instead of with precision.

even when the illustration seems infused with a little uncertainty, i appreciate greatly being able to use this map to visualize areas in which i'm salvaging, like the block surrounded by carpenter, owen (now grand avenue), hubbard, and curtiss (now aberdeen). there, i can see that in 1857 the block contained not just one, but multiple single and two-story wood frame cottages. the city directories printed a decade or so after the city was incorporated (in 1837) list residents living along the streets surrounding this block, which corroborates the accuracy of palmatary's depiction.

research is ongoing surrounding one such structure, appearing on the 1857 map across the alley from where the john kent russell house stood (built in 1855 and demolished in 2014). the latter has been the frequent subject of posts, and is well-covered as the catalyst that spawned my other archival projects, unearthing and deconstructing chicago. the structure in question likely pre-dates the john kent russell house. perhaps it is to be expected that a similarly important salvage would crop up in such close proximity to that past salvage (the recently demolished aberdeen street houses are seen - in part - in the two photos taken at the time the john kent russell house was being torn down and the lot excavated).
what i've deemed as simply house "457," resided along aberdeen with a neighboring non-extant cottage (covered in an earlier post) of similar age, and both are now completely torn down. it was likely built in the early 1850's, or the late 1840's at earliest, making it one of the oldest known cottages still standing in the city until its recent death. the henry b. clarke house and noble-seymour-crippen house, constructed in the 1830's, remain the oldest surviving houses in the city. still, as far as material data collected by bldg. 51 & company, the aberdeen house represents a great find, distinctive in several elements once deconstructed by the wrecking ball.
the main element of significance is the discovery of hand-hewn white oak wood beams (i.e., sill and summer). unlike the few hundred other 19th century houses documented around the city of chicago over the past few years, the beams in "455" exhibited no saw markings, and instead showcased the rough textural markings of being hewn by hand with a broad axe, a sign both of its age and manual construction method.
additional wood samples taken from the house are of white oak, indicating it was constructed with hardwood that may have been locally sourced, or possibly harvested from the east coast by schooner. alternately, it could even have been built from "scrap" of an earlier house. either way, oak is an unusual material to encounter, as the primary type of wood used to build pre-fire chicago was white pine, extracted or logged from the untapped forests of upper wisconsin, michighan, minnesota, and so on.
though the solidly hewn beams suggest its configuration as a heavy frame or post and beam construction, the cottage still represents a hybrid or combination frame, as it utilized studs (up-down sawn, 1.5 x 3 inches), akin to a balloon frame. when the south wall was fully exposed during demolition of the neighboring house (i.e., 455) the day before, i discovered an unusual cross-section in clapboard installation, that had been effectively hidden for decades, spanning nearly 170 years. the first and most striking layer consisted of siding comprised of long, continuous boards, much wider than is common and appearing to have pit saw markings.
the second layer was more standardized or "dimensional" (i.e., what i commonly find and record from houses dating to the mid-19th century, onward) with circular saw markings evident along the back, along with a slight taper. the latter is curious, since the hewn beams would suggest that a saw was unavailable during the original construction, but further research is required to determine the circumstances surrounding the use of both hewn and sawn-wood structural components.
once stripped down to the foundation, it was clear the oldest part of the single story structure was configured around a centrally located chimney, with the oldest materials (i.e., hewn sill plate and summer beam) used on the southern portion of the residence. the back of the cottage, covered over with an enclosed porch sometime after 1900, had been added during the 1860's, based on the configuration and type of sill plates and joinery used against the original "footprint" or foundation with hewn beams. a second story was built on that addition during the 1870's. sometime during the 19th century (possibly when the second story was added), the housed was raised on cedar posts and/or brick columns concealed by vertically-arranged pine wood boards.
obviously the structure presents a complicated case study, in which the exact date of construction remains elusive. the building contained a number of modifications, evidencing the building's "learning" from or being altered by inhabitants over the long course of its existence. after demolition had yielded all information possible, the excavation at least helped narrow the date to the decade of the 1850's. several fragments and at least one intact bottle were discovered when the concrete slab was removed and the original limestone foundation--where the raised sill plates originally sat were exposed.

a great deal of additional research remains to be done to fully understand this seemingly simple structure. numerous images have yet to be edited, and a sizable collection of artifacts taken from the original house need to be analyzed. the discovery of a largely intact structure built during chicago's "pioneer days," does not happen often, so i feel compelled to put the time and effort into parsing out the accurate portrait this early chicago gem so rightfully deserves.

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom.

posted may 16th, 2016:

time capsule (and contents) extracted from st. paul's evangelical lutheran church building (1889) during its demolition to make way for luxury condos.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted february 2, 2016:

going into 2016 marks an important milestone for urban remains, a milestone representing a sometimes arduous, surprising and notably transformative journey full of wonder, beauty and not a few dangerous exploits. i have now spent over a decade salvaging, archiving and compiling an enormous repository of data on a variety of artifacts from buildings. dying, decaying, often forgotten buildings, those with historic significance, and many that are tragically under-researched.

these buildings no longer exist complete, intact, in physical form. while reflecting on my decade of documenting, i realize it is because of a nearly fanatical devotion to salvaging these works of art, with an undying persistence, that today, the online store of this once humble business has surpassed 24,000 artifacts, cataloged in extensive detail, both in imagery and description. i rarely feel excessively proud of these accomplishments; this massive effort hasn’t been easy, and looking at the experience as a collective whole, there’s been perpetual toil and disappointments along with transformation, great discoveries coupled with extreme physical and mental costs. the price of love and passion.

ten years ago, i lived the life of a scientist, working on genetic mouse models at the university of chicago and calling the hyde park neighborhood of chicago home. i spent years on the science track, years conducting research, years with a colony of genetically altered mice, developing an arsenal of behavioral essays designed around quantifying their movements.

and then something quite inexplicable happened and my life as a scientist came to a screeching halt.

i realized I no longer wanted to do this.

the break in my career track was an anxious one, but i thought i would take a risk to give my undying passion for salvaging 19th century architecture a go, at least for a year or so. i distinctly remember being overly concerned that, should i return to that world more than a year later, my curriculum vitae would have accumulated too much dust, appear thin, to the point where my biomethods, laboratory skills and research would no longer be as relevant or up to date if i decided to ditch my dream and reenter academia.

thankfully, those concerns were fleeting, and once i was fully immersed in the world of "urban remains" i never looked back. not ever. not once. i knew i had found that inner-strength and the kind of certainty that people speak of when they say: “that guy has a calling.” it’s a powerful single-mindedness that can transform a passion into a lifelong quest -- for better or worse. for me, the big dream, the one i couldn’t shake? to thoroughly document and rescue ornament from buildings facing the wrecking ball.

unfortunately, my new occupation also entailed de-prioritizing my emotional and physical health. my body, mind, and lifestyle all changed as a result of this fork-in-the-road decision. if i could go back and have a conversation with the younger me from ten years ago, i’m not altogether sure what advice i would give to my future self. perhaps i'd remind myself that there is a world outside of the business and to remember to breathe. i can easily imagine a hundred things i wish i'd done differently. whether i would have taken any of it seriously back then - well, i doubt that very much. because, when i am immersed in sequential, never-ending salvages, it becomes hard to see much outside of this work. since childhood, in fact, i’ve been told that i view life in black-and-white, and that i had trouble navigating the "gray area." but there are benefits of having a personality that can become consumed by a passion and completely engrossed: the ability to focus for long stretches and delve to investigate deeper, more exhaustively, at more levels of complexity. to sift, collect and sort through piles of information, ephemera and arcana which tell the story about these ghostly artifacts.

i would, though, be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that throughout the years of this business, this unwavering dedication has also meant making uncompromising commitments, devoting long days and nights to exacting work full of tedium, work that is draining, depleting precious energy reserves from mind and body. salvaging is beautiful, yes. satisfying? yes. and totally unforgiving.

the darkest chapters in this past decade have been when i lost steam from injury. without momentum, i felt uninspired, anxious, lost, depressed. on the other hand, the highlights of my work have been when i was soaring with unbridled motivation, and felt nothing could get in my way. in that state of mind, i would risk everything to capture a pivotal photograph, and go to extremes to salvage any and all ornament that might be important in representing the architectural merit of a given building or house. in this, i identify with people like richard nickel, whose drive to revisit demolition sites again and again, to save more and more material, trumped the danger or risk to one's life. sadly, nickel lost his while salvaging the chicago stock exchange.

i certainly have had scary "close calls" myself, and since i am still here, i am now gradually learning to accept a necessary, albeit alien, process of simply letting go or walking away if the risks are too great. even in this new-found pursuit of balance, i am wary of reducing my efforts too much. it might sound crazy, but i fear i will suffer guilt over not documenting or rescuing materials facing destruction. but again, just thinking over a decade of this inner turmoil reminds me of being terribly exhausted from chasing time...

now, more than ever, i realize how these persistent inner conflicts are fueled by a negative energy, for instance: witnessing the slow and painful death of a building. and of course, there’s excruciating physical pain -- especially during times when i've had to crawl out of bed with debilitating, screaming torment emanating from multiple damaged discs in my back. and yet, during my lengthy recoveries (and i’ve had many over the years) i'm always amazed at how my thoughts quickly transform and return to intensely positive and productive fantastical obsessions: i think about and visualize demolition sites, excavations, salvaging ornament, researching building materials.

it seems impossible to extinguish this inner-flame.

i realize more than ever that it is crucial not to work myself to death. though sometimes i've had to learn this lesson the hard way -- being forced to slow down -- this re-calibration may actually provide the necessary tools or insight to stay on this path and wend through another decade of urban remains. with a mindset and my approach to business now filled with more caution and patience, with less stress and greater clarity of mind, i can thoroughly document the death of a building, being more methodical than ever. i could elaborate on the lessons learned and wisdom gained in greater detail (perhaps in the form of a book) but i'd rather not trigger a great deal of stress through synthesizing regrets and disasters.

instead this "anniversary" is a time for me to relax and bask in what small contributions and triumphs i have managed to make to the field of historic building preservation. overall, i’ve recovered a massive amount of historic building remnants, photo-documenting each process and compiling narratives to help assign and articulate meaning to all that has been lost. i can only hope that i continue to save as much, until i can no longer carry the torch i imagine has been handed to me by richard nickel and tim samuelson.

if my body of work can show future generations the great sense of loss in terms of our architectural heritage, that these buildings still live within the artifacts salvaged, that great stories are told within these sometimes fragile pieces, then i feel i have done my part.

posted april 15th, 2015:

---another modest pre-fire chicago boarding house hiding in plain sight demolished---

i had my eye on this little 19th century two-story gable or hipped wooden frame chicago cottage for weeks after i discovered that a demolition permit was pulled to obliterate it in preparation for a new residential development.

after looking it over time and again, i strongly suspected the house might very well date to the 1850's or at the very latest, 1860's. however, i wouldn't be able to know with greater certainty until the excavator arrived and revealed the building elements hidden underneath several remuddlings.

note: just the other night i found some wadded newspaper between a stud and sheathing. after researching the content, i arrived at an 1858 date that i'm rather confident is right.

unfortunately, i missed the demolition, but when i arrived on site late at night on my way home from the shop, everything was there, just pulled down by the backhoe. with a flashlight i walked in and around the rubble to find studs, joists, sill plates, etc. when my light flashed on an entire section of wall, complete with studs and sheathing my jaw dropped.

the white pine wood studs were virtually identical to the ones i discovered in the john kent russell residence (1855). the framing system used against the sheathing consisted primarily of of pine wood studs measuring 3 x 4 inches, with saw markings and heavy adz axe marks from portions and/or entire segments.

the incredibly rough sawn sheathing was remarkable in scale and/or size, with massive boards assembled together against the studs without being interlocked by tongue and groove joinery.

i immediately grabbed as many pieces as i could stuff into my volkswagen, despite scratching my seats, etc. i even strapped a few larger pieces to the top of my car to bring back to the shop. i thought, enjoy the moment, worry about trashing my car later. i was shaking with excitement.

walking along the brick wall where the sill plate rested. the house was likely raised onto brick walls when public sewer lines were added (the john kent russell house ((1855) and many others share the nearly identical foundation configurations).
by the time i removed the last of the wood fragments, it was nearly midnight and i was exhausted. i had been at work since 8:30am and had to go home to begin my "second shift" editing images, research, etc. i tried to shut down before 4am, when my eyeballs where about to fall out of my skull, but there isn't an "off" switch in my neuronal wiring.

the next morning i returned to the site to find the wrecker slowly gathering what remained of the house in preparation for the arrival of dump trucks to cart it all away. i told him i dropped by the other night and proceeded to give him forty dollars to grab additional wood pieces, including key pieces of the massive sheathing leaning against the wall of the residence on the adjoining lot. i'm essentially paying him to take away his "trash."

satisfied with the amount of material gathered, i asked the wrecker if excavation was in the works and if so, when. that way i can be onsite, and with fingers crossed, possibly discover a privy pit that would not only lend insight into the lives of the occupants that lived there long ago, but greatly assist in arriving at a more concrete date of construction, based on what is discovered at the very bottom - that is, if there is a privy pit or "vault" and it was just sealed as opposed to being "dipped" by the scavengers hired to periodically clean these pits when they grew full and were going to be reused.

unfortunately, i had only one largely intact "system" of integrated components to photodocument, but i think it represents how the studs and sheathing were used throughout this well-built mid-19th century cottage. sections from this "system" were removed and taken back to the shop (in the company truck this time) where i shot them in the studio. some of the specimens have been lightly cleaned, while others have been sanded and sealed. still other components were recovered from the pile, including a floor joist with tenon. the gallery below represents a sampling of these recovered components.

surreal to witness the top half (i.e., gable - no cornice - with original clapboard hanging on) of a 19th century cottage undergoing demolition split apart and slide into alley when studs mortised into the second story girt snapped.
if i had the time and resources, i would have salvaged this "system" for further study (i've done it before). i recall the sheathing being incredibly irregular and massive in size - consistent with the building materials and methods used in the construction of these cottages during the mid-19th century.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted september 22, 2015:

from the moment i struck through a wall near the northeast corner of the house, i knew that my suspicions about its true identity were correct. after peeling back continuous layers i am convinced this house was likely moved from the central business district sometime during the 1850's (around the time masonry began replacing the wood-framed shanties). in fact, once i pulled back and deciphered the "insulation" resting on the sill plate between the joists, i had an approximate date of 1850-1854, based on the brittle scraps of newspapers, product brochures and business cards (see more of the initial findings prior to demolition here).

a few weeks later i received word that the house was going to be demolished the next day. when i arrived onsite, nothing initially "spoke" to me. there had been so many alterations - far more than i anticipated. the entire rafter system had been replaced from a previous fire, and traces of additional fire damage were discovered behind walls exposed by the claws of the excavator's backhoe. i was mainly interested in the front-most section of the house and the sill plate configuration. since the debris from the demolition covered over these sills and the front wasn't demolished, i would return the next day when the job reached completion.

early the following morning i received a call from the wrecker informing me that the sill plates were ready to be photographed. the day prior, i'd asked if he would be kind enough to contact me as soon as they were exposed "in situ" so i could carefully examine their surface characteristics, configuration and so on. when i arrived on site, i could not believe my eyes. my wrecker friend managed to clear all the debris away from and around the sill plates and heavily notched girt. it was a remarkable sight to behold. the heavy timbers rested on cedar posts that had been cut down. more likely than not, these posts once served as logs used to roll the house (with teams of oxen) from site to site.

having carefully examined and harvested sill plate fragments from well over 50 houses this year alone, i have only seen two other structures that contained wood-pegged joinery. however, unlike the others i've found, there were no "spikes" toenailed into any of the sill plates or girts here. these sill plates were interconnected by using a combination of lap and mortise and tenon joinery. i have only seen this once before-- when i was systematically deconstructing the john kent russell house (1855).

interestingly, the russell house used large wrought iron spikes and tie rods, with only a single plate containing multi-faceted and tapered wood pegs. the current house was pegged throughout. this is of interest considering nails were widely available in chicago from the early 1830's on, when the first sawmill was fired up to cut dimensional lumber. the size of timbers used for both the sills and girt were also distinctive, representing the largest i've come across since the russell house.

the sill plates were sawn, with circular markings evident and mostly uniform from one section to another. the heavily notched girt exhibited evidence of hewn marks, and the joists were locked into place on both sides of the beam. the faceted and tapered pegs were comprised of oak (the other previously discovered pegs are white pine) and were nearly 12 inches in length.

clearly, the hybridization of "old world" post and beam with balloon construction methodologies make this wood-framed cottage a worthwhile "case study" to be examined beyond the scope of my ongoing deconstructing chicago project. at the very least, photographs and materials (i.e, sill plates, etc.) are available to any and all researchers who wish to pursue information about these under-studied early chicago cottage.

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

salvaging a colossal bunte candy factory hand-painted wood water tower measuring "stick."

 

the other day i was looking over some of the sentimental items in one my storage rooms and i happened across a gargantuan hand-painted pine wood "stick" or gauge that was once affixed to one of three enclosed riveted joint iron reservoirs housed in the tower of the non-extant prairie school style bunte candy factory constructed in 1919.

 

nearly 8 years ago i obtained the salvage rights to the massive west side chicago candy factory about a month before asbestos abatement was performed to make way for the arrival of the wrecking ball (it was demolished to make way for the newly-built high school's football field). since the candy factory complex was designed by the notable firm of schmidt, garden and martin, i made every effort to seek out and salvage any and all original design elements (both exterior and interior) that had not been altered or removed when it was converted into a high school during the 1960's.

 

i carefully documented the factory complex through the lens of my camera, beginning in the depths of the power plant outbuilding and ending high above at the very top of the administrative tower. i spent a great deal of time in that tower, admiring the original and largely intact bunte candy factory-era elevator, the light fixtures, signage and other unique objects left untouched and mostly abandoned during the high school's occupancy.

 

the uppermost section of the tower was a cavernous concrete chamber designed to house three huge riveted and painted black iron water tanks or reservoirs that supplied the factory with pressurized water below. it was truly a sight to behold - especially since the tanks had not been attended to since the 1940's.

 

making any attempt to salvage the tanks was completely out of the question. besides, the wrecker (dmd demolition) had their eye on them for their collective scrape value. however, photodocumenting or just getting the chance to experience/explore this peaceful and spacious chamber of old and outdated iron tanks was just not enough. i yearned for a more tangible memento, that not only was three-dimensional, but also captured the experience and scale of the water tanks (two were 12 feet tall, while the much larger main tank was 26 feet in height).

 

fortunately, i knew exactly what to remove from this room when i first walked through the door. the unusual measuring sticks affixed to each of the tanks were so incredibly cool and were equipped with a simple mechanical system consisting of weights and pulleys to achieve a somewhat accurate reading of the amount of water each tank was holding at any given time.

 

the "gauges" were strapped tightly in place against the tanks with metal brackets and contained sliding indicators supported by rope and pulley. the original hand-painted finish was amazingly intact. the carefully applied stenciled scales and numbers painted in black against a dull gray background exhibited allover crazing and discoloration. the surface patina only added visual character and a testament to their age (1919).

 

the brackets and auxiliary components secured to the tank were removed and the twelve foot stick was brought down several flights of stairs where creative maneuvering was required to get it to the ground and into the truck. the elevator would not have been useful if it was functional based on the sheer size of the measuring stick and the fact that the the cab was lying damaged and utterly defeated on the basement floor, surrounded by several giant concrete piles.

 

after lightly cleaning it, i sealed it and spent the next several years displaying it in places where twelve foot ceilings were available. as of recent, it was relegated to storage, but after bringing into my studio, it motivated and/or inspired me to do a detailed photoshoot of the lengthy sign, along with posting it on the blog with accompanying images taken nearly 8 years ago when the salvage was taking place.

 

some may be disappointed that it falls into the impenetrable category of "reference only," but i feel compelled nonetheless to share the unique story and photographs of its discovery and debut in the studio - espeically the close-ups of the wonderfully preserved surface patina. i'm convinced i will never have the opportunity to find a giant hand-painted measuring stick attached to an early 20th century factory water tank ever again, so i felt it was important to record its discovery.

 

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted march 8, 2015:

for the past two days i've devoted morning, afternoon and evening obsessively thinking about anything and everything pertaining to an augustus bauer-designed building constructed in 1869. the arrival of souvenir hunters, the police, an alderman, and other, largely unhappy individuals coalescing into a rather unnerving and heavily distracting form of preservation backlash that has made my meticulous documentation of the historically important gethsemane missionary baptist church undergoing demolition emotionally draining to say the least.

the architectural artifacts i've salvaged thus far, (e.g., time capsule, date and/or informational limestone plaque, and a gargantuan keystone) have been successfully recovered and documented in the studio. the safely secured hand-carved keystone will likely find its way into the bldg. 51 museum, but the plaque and capsule belong in the chicago history museum or historical society's collection. i am mildly optimistic that they will show any interest. i will find out next monday when i make the call.

i've already taken at least 500 images of the building before and during its demolition. there is so much to disclose in terms of the raw building materials i have recovered, along with what was revealed when the demolition exposed more and more of the characteristics dating back to its construction in 1869. like the john kent russell house (1855), there will be several posts to follow as i continue to make sense of the information and images collected thus far.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted february 4th, 2015:

despite the brutally cold weather and piles of snow every which way, we made our way to the interconnected cluster of gray painted buildings (nine of the eleven bearing historic significance to one degree or another), formerly used to house a vast array of restaurant equipment and services for several decades.

 

we had a very short window of time to extract interior artifacts and/or objects this afternoon, so i had my crew focus on carefully removing the turned walnut newel posts and railings, along with paneled doors and other odds and ends from the one building i'm convinced was constructed between 1868-1875.

 

while they removed the interior millwork, i wandered off and photographed each and every building extensively and systematically from basement to rooftop. several hundred images were taken of interior spaces, which in some areas, were left largely unaltered since the depression.

 

as our time there drew to a close, i set the camera down and focused solely on removing a single heavily ornamented interior cast iron capital from the building where all the salvage work was done. i was hoping to secure at least one of the many matching capitals, which consist of an impressive assemblage of acanthus leaves, affixed to the very top of the load-bearing columns comprised of solid yellow pine wood.

 

much to my surprise, and unlike any other iron capital i have removed from commercial buildings dating to the 1860's-1870's, each and every ornamented component was nailed directly against the column i was working on. based on my previous experience with removing this type of ornament, the first floor interior capitals typically consist of two cylindrical segments of cold-rolled steel or sheet iron that wrap around the metal or wood column. the cast pieces (i.e., protruding acanthus leaves) are riveted firmly against the two segments to create a four-sided capital viewable from any angle. with the capital comprised of several carefully arranged pieces nailed flush against the post, it came down rather quickly with very little effort required.

 

at the end of the day, the photography of the building interiors are now completed and architectural elements were carefully removed, with a few have already shot in the studio in preparation for listing on the website.

 

we will be there again tomorrow removing more artifacts i feel are worthwhile of saving for future use. hopefully i will manage to set aside time this weekend to continue my research into the history of these buildings in order to gain a better appreciation for what existed there long before the restaurant equipment resale business came along and paved the way to demolition of the buildings through continued neglect and eventual abandonment. i'm not doubt overwhelmed with mounting questions, but finding the answers will take a great deal of time.

 

a few artifacts secured from today's salvage were shot late this evening and included for viewing in this post.

 

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted december 17, 2014:

demolition of heavily modified 1885 chicago brick worker's cottage well underway

late in the afternoon we arrived at the site of a chicago worker's brick cottage constructed in 1885. the exterior had been substantially altered or remodeled over its lifespan, so there wasn't much to salvage in terms of architectural artifacts - both in terms of the interior and exterior.

however, the building materials and methodologies were of great interest to me, as i continue to populate my photographic database, containing a vast array of images pertaining to "raw" building materials used in chicago residential and commercial structures constructed during 1850-1880. prior posts have touched upon this subject time and again.

the gabled roof "shotgun style" brick cottage had been mostly been reduced to a pile of rubble with the exception of two structural or exterior brick walls supporting gargantuan solid douglas fir notched wood sill plates. the exposed framing consisted of several closely spaced horizontal white pine wood floor joists held together by mortise and tenon joints, with the sill plates containing the notches that supported the tenons found on each end of the joists (see images below). the four surrounding sill plates were interlocked in a similar fashion, only on much larger scale. square or "cut" nails were used for added reinforcement.

in addition to retrieving samples and/or sections of the sill plates and joists, we managed to find a few studs that had not been terribly mangled for documenting wood type, dimensions and saw markings. wide pine wood plank tongue-and-groove flooring was also recovered from the pile. upon closer examination, it appears that the flooring was originally treated with a faux wood grain finish that was later covered over at some point with orange paint (see gallery below).

finally, an open cavity within one of the intact walls contained a blue-aqua "blobtop" hutchinson type soda bottle left by one of the brick layers when the house was being constructed. remnants of mortar were attached to the bottle's shoulder (since removed) and against the stopper found within the bottle. the mouth-blown molded bottle is consistent with the age of the house.

our wrecker was kind enough to pull a few of the buried artifacts from the pile and then transport any additional collected materials directly into the bed of our work truck with the use of his bucket. from there, we left the site and headed back to the shop where i then prepared the recovered artifacts for the photo shoot later this evening. a sampling of images from the shoot are found in the gallery below.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted on december 10th, 2014:

salvaging building materials from an 1870's chicago two-story worker's cottage

as a late 1870's two story worker's cottage is rapidly being transformed into a growing pile of splintered old growth wood, i managed to work around the ongoing chaos and extract several intact building components that were used to build this modest 19th century hybrid frame dwelling; incorporating the use of balloon frame and post and beam construction. the interior of the house underwent a complete overhaul sometime in the 1970's, so there was nothing worthwhile to salvage for "resale" purposes. the exterior on the other hand - especially along the facade, features a multitude of typical italianate style "clustered" angle wood scrolliated brackets and distinctive ornamented wood hoods or headers above the arch top windows (note the single surviving sash frame with muntins intact). once the wrecker nears the front of the house, i will direct my team to remove these elements, if not too badly weathered.

despite their being very little to salvage for resale purposes, i quickly dismissed that option by focusing instead on capturing materials or in one instance, an entire "system" of the house, in order to add new material to my "historic building materials" photographic database, and to bolster my ongoing research pertaining to the evolution and/or experimental construction methods used in residential and commercial structures used in chicago between 1830-1890.

the millwork catalogs during this time-span clearly demonstrated that certain materials (e.g., doors, molding, spindles and newel posts, etc.) could easily be replicated on a much larger scale to accommodate the dizzying rate of residential and commercial construction during the "boom years," but the availability of lumber (harvested from the forests of wisconsin), along with other "raw" materials continuously fluctuated, especially during chicago's "pioneer days."

with the advancement of technology, including increasingly sophisticated machinery embraced by sawmills and millwork companies alike during the late 19th century, more uniformity in material and thus methodology was more commonplace, so anything after 1890 doesn't hold much interest for me. since this particular house was built within my established perimeters, i was very motivated to switch gears and and sift through the rubble to source materials to photodocument back at the shop for further study.

unfortunately, by the time we were made aware of the demolition, nearly half the house was gone, so in addition to sorting through the rubble, i managed to document an interesting "cross-section" and/ or exposed assemblage of the materials and methods used to construct this cottage.

i immediately saw what remained of the balloon framing, nailed together with (mostly) dimensional lumber, supported by gargantuan posts or beams (i.e., sill plates) fastened together with mortise and tenons joinery. these two methodologies reinforced my theory that the majority of frame dwellings constructed before 1890 often utilized a combination of technologies, which still included the use of heavy timbers and not just dimensional lumber nailed together. i will expound on this in greater detail in future posts.

the photogallery shown below offers some of the components retrieved from the rubble that were lightly cleaned and shot in my studio. the system, consisting of undisturbed clapboard, sheathing, studs and lath and plaster is especially interesting to examine as a complete unit. i was fortunate to spot this and rather surprised that it remained intact despite the thrashing of the backhoe. in addition, i added some "compare and contrast" images the contain both materials from this house (1870's) and the john kent russell house (1855). clearly, there are some obvious differences, including the size and shape of the dimensional lumber, along with saw markings and so on. both houses utilized white pine, which was one of the predominant wood species used to build chicago from its earliest days. the great majority of this old growth wood was sourced from wisconsin.

images courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

posted november 27th, 2014:

a day of salvage and urban archaeological excavation at a 19th century chicago two-flat residence

early in the afternoon we arrived at the job site during a momentary pause as the wreckers were refueling their backhoe. we took advantage of that time to quickly assess the unusually large, double lot, containing a single victorian era red brick two-flat residence constructed in the 1880's.

i must admit, from the very beginning, it was incredibly hard to focus and get into my "zone" since my herniated discs and sciatica were pushing my pain level nearly off the scale. it didn't help that it was unusually cold with snow flurries all around me. not only does the pain interfere with the excitement of discovery, but makes even the simplest tasks overwhelmingly daunting. the before, during and after phases of removing, say a mantel, was impossible for me to even think of doing with my own hands. with back surgery already on the horizon, i need to be as careful as humanly possible, which just breaks my heart. i'm relegated to pointing, advising and documenting the process with a camera and salvage crew to carry out the tasks. nothing more, nothing less.

the house set to be demolished was a typical two-flat red brick residence constructed in the 1880's. it sat on a double lot, which at one point was occupied by two residential structures - likely from the same era, based on the housing in the surrounding neighborhood. research will be conducted once sanborn insurance maps and other research materials have been reviewed.

unlike most salvages, i viewed this one as part reclamation of architectural artifacts and part urban archaeology, where i would make an effort to locate privy pits during the excavation phase of both lots in preparation for new construction.

the first and second floor units contained fanciful eastlake style fireplace mantles with lightly incised abstract floral motifs. remarkably, the original "faux" marble painted finish was largely untouched on both mantles. unfortunately, the tile surround and gas inserts were removed before we arrived.

we did however, salvage nearly all of the distinctive hearth tile (us encaustic tile works, indianapolis, ind.). despite the typical surface wear from years of foot traffic. each hearth contained a "hodgepodge" of unique ornamented ceramic tiles in various sizes and brightly colored majolica glazes.

the doors, windows and cabinets were outfitted with mostly "oriental" pattern hardware fabricated by branford lock works. several cast brass hinges, rosettes, doorknobs, decorative mortise locks and so on were removed from the millwork original to the house. discovering six matching and heavily painted built-in cabinet "doggie" figural drawer pulls on the second floor was a bit unusual. the deep relief cast iron pulls are not found often, so it was a pleasant surprise to run across the drawer pulls during our walk-through inspection. with the removal of several coats of paint and a thorough cleaning, the doggie pulls turned out nicely. the exact fabricator of the "doggie" pulls is not known.

while my salvage crew went to work in the house after i developed the game plan, where i fully documented the interior and identified any and all artifacts to be removed, the wrecker and i headed outside to the vacant lot next the house where i managed to convince him to set aside some time to seek out privy pits. during our search it felt rather surreal to be working inches away from this giant steel bucket that scoops out large amounts of earth in an instant. in the back of my head i was thinking about digging out the wood-lined privy at the john kent russell house by hand and how much time and effort it took to accomplish what this machine can do in a matter of seconds. simply amazing. consider yourself "blessed" if you get a wrecker to work with you on this.

as i walked around with a makeshift map i created earlier after finding a few promising areas when prodding the soil with a makeshift steel rod probe, the wrecker rolled along side me high up in his cab. with a simple hand gesture, his massive machine would gracefully dig into the regions where i suspected privy or ash pits may likely be found. for a wrecker, time is incredibly precious, so i didn't have much time to fully prepare for this. in other words, i had to "wing it" onsite.

based on my knowledge from past experience and research, i directed the backhoe operator towards area where most privy pits are likely found; the back of the lot or along the property line. there were a few slightly sunken regions in unusual locations, but digging there only yielded some ash pits, with only shards of glass bottles and china.

the back area where the garage was once located (demolished and cleared earlier in the morning) proved successful. there, i found the highest concentration of artifacts, including unbroken beer and medicinal bottles. most of the content dates to 1885-90, but we will revisit it when the wrecker excavates the two lots after the house is demolished. more to follow in upcoming posts.