Bldg. 51

due to a number of unexpected architectural salvages, preparing the john kent russell house exhibit and overseeing the publication of the bldg. 51 museum catalog, i've finally had a little bit of time to begin working again on the odin j. oyen collection in greater detail. at this point, i'm just processing and cataloging all the materials, which includes photo...

i managed to capture the early stages of fabrication and preparation for installation of the "drooping tip" ceiling panels during my visit last week. production of the intricately detailed and well made faithful reproductions (taken awhile back from a mold of an original surviving panel) has ramped up considerably. additionally, the 8th floor dining room, where the panels were originally...

i discovered the book "unearthing gotham" in 2002, and have read and later reexamined various chapters of this remarkable and highly informative tomb well into 2014 - especially when we began finding ash pits and privies buried beneath the john kent russell house (1855-56). i can't even begin to fathom the amount of buried remains from 19th century chicago and...

the greater part of sunday was spent gathering wood samples from building sites and digging privy pits. by the time i gathered all of the materials and brought them back to the shop, i should have went home and rested. instead, i pushed on... the darkness of night was setting in, but i continued sanding wood fragments i wanted to...

after spending weeks sporadically visiting the site where the pre-fire john kent russell frame house once stood, we have collected hundreds of fragments found in privies and ash pits. we have gathered enough material left behind to further understand living conditions of working class families that came and went through the doors of the russell house. the "dug" collection thus far...

it appears after repeated (failed) attempts to reach out and connect with the contractor, i'm embarrassingly relegated back to the dumpster behind the commercial building constructed in 1876 (see earlier posts on this building). it's abundantly clear that money and/or avoiding crossing paths with the construction workers onsite will persuade my original contact to allow me the time needed to...

reese was bitter from the beginning. nearly 30 buildings being vacated, or had been abandoned for years. an awful salvage experience were everything that could go wrong, went wrong. my relationship with the wrecker i had worked with for years grew tumultuous. it was hard to develop a system as to where to begin and where to end. so many...

i've been watching this post-fire chicago commercial building located on west of downtown chicago for the past few weeks. in fact, i spent an afternoon (with consent from the contractor) photodocmenting the interior from the basement to the top floor. the building is in an ideal state (at least for me) with any and all structural members exposed, which invites...

multiple "ash pits" were recently discovered (in addition to the documented brick-lined privies) on the site of the former john kent russell house as we continue to excavate before the "earth movers" roll in to finally eradicate any and all remains left by the former occupants in preparation for the construction of three-story condo. the ash pits yielded a vast...

i have been waiting for this day since 1996, when i first laid eyes on these unusual and mysterious iron and glass sidewalk panels found around the cast iron (i.e., soho/noho) district of manhattan. better yet, at night, when wandering the area again, these massive, interlocking panels came alive when incandescent light from below transformed them into these fantastic grids...

the historically important 19-story towering beax-arts style lakeshore athletic club building was designed by renowned chicago architect jarvis hunt in 1927. the extant chicago landmark is located on a prominent corner along the shores of lake michigan. the interior boasted a gargantuan marble-clad lobby, with ornamented bronze chandeliers and gilded plasterwork. in addition, the building contained stunning ballrooms, a reading...

within an hour after arriving home from my buying trip in wisconsin late in the evening, i decided to push ahead and not only completely unload the haul, but proceeded to fire up the studio strobes and begin shooting selected renderings i really felt deserved immediate attention. i promised myself in the beginning that once i successfully acquired the odin...

after waiting very patiently for nearly 16 years, the opportunity to secure the odin j. oyen design firm's "collection" of art, artifacts and personal belongings (that were formerly tucked away and undocumented) has become a reality, thanks to thoughtful and sympathetic negotiations. there are several thousand articles or objects to catalog, photodocument and ultimately publish as a collection, that i...

i was pleasantly surprised to learn that the original bronze plating was largely intact under a botched restoration or rather, a unsympathetic and careless remuddling applied to the louis h. sulllivan-designed cyrus mccormick radiator grille's surface over 30 years ago. i knew when i purchased the mccormick mansion radiator grille that repair work would be required to make it presentable...

two out of state reputable colleagues, who i consider friends that share an equal passion towards appreciating and rescuing ornament from buildings undergoing renovation or demolition, recently brought to my attention the availability of a set of historically important bronze exterior and/or building facade plaques removed from the chicago building (1904) designed by architects holabird and roche (read below for...

a striking chrome-plated art deco lobby elevator directional arrow indicator plaque with pressed glass insets and a monogrammed office door bronze handle, were recently acquired from the art deco style cincinnati times-star building. both artifacts contain distinctive features that bare characteristics to the time period and/or the building itself, with zig-zag motifs, a stepped rosette and monogram with initials representing the...

being utterly consumed with the john kent russell house salvage (and 1850's chicago for that matter) for several weeks now, i only recently had the chance to get up to speed on other demolition activity happening in the chicago area. last sunday i discovered that the lawndale theater was not only being demolished, but is nearly gone. i was aware...

i didn't have much time to photodocument the chicago athletic association building this afternoon after spending a great deal of time "excavating" the russell house site in the morning, and having to hastily find my way to wicker park to document the recently exposed wood frame building (only a few of these structures remain along milwaukee avenue), where capturing the...

the image depicting the delicate porcelain enameled. multi-paneled wrigley chewing gum factory sign grasped tightly in the "claws" of a wrecker's backhoe did not look to very promising in regards to the sign's fate. weeks later, a portion of the wrigley factory sign was discovered resting against the former guardhouse directly off of ashland avenue. clearly, damage to the porcelain enameled...

rarely does one find an all original and completely intact residential entrance or vestibule door lockset with every component being apart of the short-lived and thus, highly desirable anglo-japanese designed hardware fabricated by the russell  & erwin company, with design patents issued as early as 1879. this recently discovered vestibule door set is unique in that every component is intact...