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salvaged 19th century stained glass windows, vintage seating, bronze hardware and terra cotta join the ever-expanding online catalog
the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts acquired and listed on the urban remains website (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one of the primary goals -- now and since 2006 -- has been to have every salvaged... -
an afternoon documenting turn of the century trash found beneath a demolished cottages
this week three lots located on west ohio street were in the beginning phase of being dug by workers from one of many demolition companies i work with. the lot being excavated once contained a small workers cottage that i missed the chance to document during its demolition late last year. the cottage stood directly across from the building where notable chicago architect... -
holy bethel church (1888) time capsule successfully extracted from cornerstone shortly before demolition
with the combination salvage and photo-documentation phase of the c. 1888 west side chicago holy bethel church (more often referred to as the adams street church) nearly completed, i'm now prepared to witness its heartbreaking death when the excavator begins demolition on monday. originally the demolition date was set for the 18th of february, but a tumultuous weather system packing a punch, with... -
19th century chicago west side holy bethel church building begins shortly after demolition permit issued
this week sees the impending demolition of the late 1880's holy bethel or "adams street" church situated at the corner of adams and damen, near the united center on chicago's west side. with the excavator set to arrive on thursday, i have all day wednesday to remove anything and everything within the church's interior. since there were countless remuddlings and... -
an elevator grille from the oldest surviving commercial building of skeletal construction in chicago
in the bldg. 51 collection is a stunning ornamental cast iron elevator grille fabricated by the winslow brothers for the interior of the manhattan building. the single-sided copper-plated panel features very unique organic motifs throughout. the detailed vertical panel is a historically important remnant of the oldest surviving commercial building of skeletal construction in chicago, designed by william lebaron jenney... -
new chicago stained glass windows, historic building hardware, signage and bottles
the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts acquired and listed on the urban remains website (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one of the primary goals -- now and since 2006 -- has been to have every... -
wrecking permits seal fate for group of post fire houses along huron street
wrecking permits were issued for 4 and 8 east huron on 2-9-2016. there are not many houses left downtown, as one can imagine, and these two were slated for demo back in 2008. the owners (a law firm i believe) first auctioned off the interior furnishings way back when. i was there, and if i recall correctly, the marble fireplace... -
bldg. 51 acquires historically important museum quality fragment of sumac pattern plaster frieze from frank lloyd wright designed residence
this week saw the purchase of a historically important and exquisitely detailed sumac pattern plasterwork frieze fragment from the extant dana-thomas house at 301 e lawrence avenue, in springfield, il. the frank lloyd wright-designed residence was commissioned for susan lawrence dana in 1902, about a decade after wright was fired from sullivan's firm for taking outside commissions, his well-known "bootleg... -
post-demolition investigation of wabansia street workers cottage and a history of its structural characteristics
when i arrived at the address late last week, i wasn't exactly sure what to expect. perhaps the wreckers weren't exactly sure either, since the endgame seemed ambiguous. the post-fire brick workers cottage did not land on my radar because there wasn't a demolition permit pulled. instead, i was told this was going to be a partial demolition, where the back and... -
several newly acquired artifacts added to urban remains' catalog over past month
the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts acquired and listed on the urban remains website (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one of the primary goals -- now and since 2006 -- has been to have every salvaged... -
a rare glimpse of the downtown chicago's vacant old central post office
in 2011 i was given the green light to briefly explore the vacant "old main" or former central post office at 433 w. van buren with a few building contractors who were assigned the task of gutting the interior - minus the grand lobby - for future development. it was quite a surreal experience (albeit a brief one) to navigate through a very massive and... -
well-executed monadnock building solid aluminum staircase baluster panel recast joins bldg. 51 museum
…the “Monadnock” went ahead; an amazing cliff of brickwork, rising sheer and stark, with a subtlety of line and surface, a direct singleness of purpose, that gave one the thrill of romance. It was the first and last work of its kind; a great work in its day, but its day vanished almost over night, leaving it to stand as... -
a decade documenting the death of buildings: a personal journey through 10 years of salvaging
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... -
in the wake of the osborne & adams demolition, historical significance of the building illuminated by its architect
a development in the afterlife of the non-extant osborne & adams commercial loft arrived recently via an email from my good friend, tim samuelson while we were discussing the use and/or abundance of both sandstone and limestone as building materials used in post fire chicago construction. as it turns out, tim's research several years ago at the landmark commission office... -
excavated 19th century soda bottles greatly assist in dating a non-extant chicago cottage and its privy pit
exactly a year ago i was spending a great deal of time excavating a site in west chicago, at the corner of paulina and wood, that i deemed the "big dig." over the course of several days , despite the temperature hovering around zero degrees and the earth being incredibly cruel to the hands, i managed to unearth a small trove of late nineteenth century... -
acquisition of a stunning ornamental art deco elevator door grille from the interior lobby of the extant palmolive building
joining a number of other artifacts in the bldg. 51 collection that originated in holabird & root-designed buildings, is an art deco cast bronze lobby elevator grille from the palmolive building, at 919 michigan avenue. the heavy square panel features an elaborate motif that once adorned the upper section of a copper-plated elevator door. the grille is an exquisite piece... -
bldg. 51 museum secures original louis sullivan-designed gage building terra cotta facade fragment
in addition to acquiring multiple winslow brothers exterior cast iron stringcourse or frieze panels from the gage building late last year, the bldg. 51 collection has now obtained a rare sullivan-designed terra cotta fragment from the facade of the same extant building, located in downtown chicago at 18 s. michigan avenue. the following details the acquisition, as well as showcases... -
with keystones and now ironwork rescued from landfill, not all is lost at the former voltz hall building
following up on the recent demolition at the corner of wells and chicago, of the former "voltz hall" -- i cannot help but return time and again to sites that peak my interest. over the weekend, i identified one of the limestone window headers laying largely unscathed on the remains of the former 19th century german saloon. on sunday... -
documenting the anatomy of balloon frame houses remains strong despite seasonal drop in residential demolitions
regardless of season or day of the week, i remain busier then ever -- devoted to delivering meaningful posts and revising the pile of projects that were set on the back-burner when multiple demolitions were taking place each week. i spend every night reviewing photo-documentation, and researching the massive array of artifacts collected from demolition sites (some dating back to... -
visiting milwaukee's pabst mansion and its 1893 world's fair pavilion over the weekend
on a recent weekend trip to milwaukee, i revisited and toured the famous pabst mansion, a monumental limestone and terra cotta residence that sits on wisconsin avenue. the house is an anomaly, set back from the street and situated between non-descript university buildings. though hard to imagine, at one point in time the street was dotted with large, elite residences...
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