Bldg. 51 Feed

the bldg. 51 museum just acquired three magnificent electric light fixtures removed from the extant historic uptown theater designed by rapp and rapp. the lot consists of two matching single light sconces and a ceiling-mount pendant light with original canopy. the fixtures are comprised of finely executed ornamental bronze metal with the original gilded ormolu (i.e.,metallic gold-plated finish) remaining largely...

despite being consumed salvaging the john kent russell house, along with painstakingly documenting the chicago athletic association building, i did manage to make it over to the historic division street bridge (what was left of it) to photograph its final days. by the time i arrived one afternoon, there were large segments of the bridge haphazardly cut apart and scattered...

shortly after a a good friend and i finished a lengthy and rather productive discussion over existing structures from 1850's chicago, i once again prepared for another afternoon at the pre-fire john kent russell house (salvage in progress as of late last week). instead of developing a game plan for salvaging exterior artifacts (e.g., brackets or corbels, etc.), i chose...

urban remains began salvaging the historically important c. 1855 john kent russell house yesterday afternoon. any and all interior architectural components were thoroughly documented and carefully removed. but before i begin what will likely be a series of posts revolving around the salvage of this pre-fire residence, i wanted to present a few images taken while i was exploring the...

 

the winslow brothers foundry (specializing in ornamental iron and bronze work) was founded around 1887 by brothers william and francis winslow. within a very short time thereafter, the winslow brothers would become one of the most accomplished foundries; outfitting numerous notable buildings and residences with skillfully executed metal ornament well into the 20th century. as early as 1881 william winslow was involved...

the bldg. 51 virtual museum website overhaul was completed late last week. the overall design of the new website and its treatment of artifacts was guided by the final layout of the softbound catalog that will be available for purchase in the coming weeks (we are currently taking pre-orders at the moment). the 51 website will provide supplemental material (e.g...

shortly before the historic division street riveted plate steel bascule bridge (constructed in 1902-03) was fenced off in preparation for demolition, i spent an afternoon photodocumenting it from what felt like every conceivable angle to satisfy my mind's eye. accessing the hydraulic machinery below or underside of the bridge was rather challenging, but accomplished nonetheless. the north branch chicago river canal bridge...

the gallery below contains a small collection of images taken of ganz hall (originally the banquet hall) at the auditorium building while i attended the lecture given by the architecture firm booth hansen. i must admit, i was much more consumed with processing sullivan's design elements than focusing my attention on the lecture itself. i'm not going to step onto...

this ornamented radiator grille, fabricated for the cyrus mccormick mansion remodel - where only two were actually installed - is considered to be the purest expression of a louis h. sullivan design executed in three-dimensional form by the winslow brothers foundry of chicago. interestingly, george grant elmslie (sullivan's chief draftsman) recalled that, upon presentation of the design or drawings to...

i revisited the chicago athletic association building this afternoon. i spent several hours moving up, down, and all around the scaffolding covering the building's facade.  i've made a point to include images of tradesman signatures and the adjoining building, originally known as the gage brothers and company building, with a terra cotta facade designed by louis h. sullivan in 1898. in...

the late 19th century historic fisher building designed by architects charles atwood and daniel h. burnham is bedecked with distinctive ornament on the inside and out. the terra cotta-clad neo-gothic style skyscraper was commissioned by paper magnate lucius fisher. the images here, show a distinctive figural (i.e., mythical aquatic creature) design motif found throughout the building. on the macro level...

on sunday afternoon of the memorial day weekend, i managed to make time to visit frank lloyd wright's winter home and school known as taliesin west, which is located on a southern slope of the mcdowell range overlooking paradise valley outside scottsdale, arizona.  wright would spend his winters there, beginning in 1937, until the time of his death in 1959, at the age...

i've decided to add more posts pertaining to "gardenesque" ornament, perhaps inspired by what i've discovered in the chicago athletic association building (a topic i've written about before) and more recently, my revisitation of the ornamental terra cotta elements i managed to salvage from the michael reese "main" hospital building during its demolition. there is a very dense and highly...

after a long day of extensive shooting at the chicago athletic association building the other day, i purposely went out of my way to photograph sullivan's intricate organic design motifs covering the schlesinger & mayer building's corner entrance. i never grow tired of studying the ornament from a number of angles as i endlessly pace back and forth around the base...

the fate of the historic roanoke building's c. 1914 basement general distribution switchboard remains uncertain. "offline" or disconnected since 1940, the largely intact black slate-backed "open" switchboard, with visually appealing glass enclosed watthour, volt and amp meters, along with oversized copper "knife" switches and incised-letter plaques is a work of art, in and of itself. i was under the strong...

the photographs taken by eric. j. nordstrom were taken bottom-up, beginning at the building's midsection. the last "period" image of the building - around the turn of the century - can be used as your guide to pinpoint the locations where nordstrom's detailed images were taken. nearly 300 photographs were taken over the course of two hours high above on...

i was virtually alone. free to explore. with cameras and lenses strapped to my body, i wandered around every nook and cranny, meticulously documenting the sulllivan ornament that was all around me. it was very dark, despite 3,500 glowing carbon filament incandescent light bulbs. the theater's interior is a true portal to the past, at least in my mind. it...

last week the bldg. 51 museum acquired an exceptionally rare and historically important late 19th century ornamental cast iron guaranty (later prudential) building flush mount ceiling light fixture medallion. the all original fixture was removed from the commercial building's interior lobby during a senseless remuddling in the 1950's. several light fixtures (including this medallion) and elevator components were taken out...