Eric

urban remains has recently acquired a sizeable amount of meticulously documented original building elements removed from the historic reliance building after nearly 16 years in off-site storage. the majority of the artifacts found in storage were either replaced with faithful reproductions or were rendered obsolete under current day building codes during a lengthy restoration occurring in the 1990's. building materials...

sadly, the massive, intricately designed "sullivanesque" unglazed and speckled terra cotta frieze, adorning the facade of the c. 1905 michael reese hospital (designed by the architectural firm of garden, martin and schmidt), was destroyed in early may of 2011. in addition, nearly 300 terra cotta figural lion heads flanking the ends of the window sills were lost as well. any...

the michael reese hospital "salvage" was no doubt a formidable experience on a multitude of levels. the logistics surrounding the acquisition and removal component seemed rather straight forward and largely uneventful in the beginning, despite the fact that we were faced with a partially abandoned 28 building complex with very little, if any, operable utilities. however, as the project began...