Events & Announcements

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...

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...

This 1868 pocket map of Chicago shows the city in full-blown expansion, a mere 3 years before the infamous blaze By Esri , Natasha Geiling   Rufus Blanchard, a Chicago map publisher whose business flourished in the late-18th century, made this 1868 map of Chicago as part of a guidebook called “The Citizen’s Guide for the City of Chicago.” The map itself is...

slowly but surely, any and all historic or architectural detailing original to the time of the chicago athletic association building's construction (1893), is carefully being reinstalled after a seemingly minor restoration and/or repair was completed months ago. remarkably, the second floor "reading room," with its gargantuan stone mantels and darkly stained and intricately designed gothic style oak wood work, appeared...

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...

a late 19th century warehouse and a turn of the century hardware store along lake street (west of downtown chicago) are quickly being decimated by backhoes operated by two of the city's larger wrecking firms.   the presence of protests and/or picketing was absent when the steel claws began tearing down the structures. instead, the commercial buildings are quickly and quietly...

over the weekend i managed to document the ongoing restoration of milwaukee's treasured city hall building (1895) designed by henry c. koch in the flemish renaissance revival style. j.p. cullen & sons was the primary contractor that "completed" the restoration of more than 13,000 terra cotta units on the historic building back in 2008.   in february of 2011, three...

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...

today marked the last day that the john kent russell house remained standing for nearly a century and a half. i'm amazed at all the changes that have occurred to the residence since the initial phases of construction sometime in the 1840's. despite the additions, upgrades and remuddlings, coupled with an ever-changing neighborhood surrounding this modest dwelling, key architectural features...

 

for over 7 hours i systematically documented the slow and painful death of the pre-fire john kent russell house, which in its earliest form may have begun as a frame cottage that dates back to 1845-50 based on newly found evidence. several yellow pine or douglas fir hewn wood structural members were discovered during the demolition of the possibly older...

i spent saturday and sunday photographing the uptown theater facade and its dilapidated horizontal marquee, a "sullivanesque" style building with terra cotta ornament (fabricated by the midland terra cotta company) and finally, a few hours investigating and/or documenting structural components at the russell house.  

despite numerous trips to photodocument the chicago athletic association building (1893), i never paid much attention to the sleek and streamlined cherry circle bar, located in the building annex (designed by schmidt, garden and martin in 1907). the other week, i poked my head inside the room with the expectation that no changes had taken place since my last visit...

demolition of the historically important pre-fire chicago john kent russell house is now on the horizon. after a very long life, i was very fortunate to document its last days before it is reduced to splintered wood and rubble. we were told it was to be demolished this thursday; however, on our last spirited push to tie up loose ends...

detaching myself from the ongoing (and seemingly never ending) john kent russell salvage in order to revisit and photodocument any and all changes made to the chicago athletic association building, was both refreshing and therapeutic. i managed to devote an entire afternoon (earlier this week) to reacquaint myself with the building and begin photographing the alterations that have taken place since...

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...