Featured Posts

i have a feeling oddball movie director david lynch would find inspiration at this overwhelmingly desolate and gloomy demolition job site, that once was home to one of the largest foundries in the chicago area. the thick overcast blanket prevented the sun from making an appearance throughout the day. the light was a bit tricky, with the lack of a warm glow...

the mounted albumen print features the non-extant telegraph block building, located in thomaston, maine.  the 1865 photographic print clearly depicts multiple businesses represented in part, by the variety of exterior hanging trade signs, which took many forms in early america. when education was a privilege and literacy rare, the ideal trade sign immediately caught the attention of a passerby and, because...

the recent removal of a depression era three-phase alternating current gantry crane switchboard, outfitted with an oversized trumball 3-pole knife switch, injected me with newly found inspiration to revisit an otherwise largely dormant interest in acquiring any and all electrical apparatus revolving around building "power plants." i took a moment and reviewed the vast assortment of voltmeters, ammeters, jackknife switches, fuses and...

the photographic essay below offers a brief glimpse at a day of savaging artifacts during a single afternoon at a chicago area standard oil (of indiana) brick factory building constructed as a distribution and handling center for several decades. the building is set to be demolished in the coming weeks. the images capture a multitude of objects that peaked my interest...

demolition of the downtown chicago howard johnson inn, constructed in the late 1960's, is nearly complete. in preparation high-rise development that will be constructed on the site (located at the corner of la salle and superior), the wrecker has spent the past few weeks systematically "potholing" the site to make way for drilling the caissons that will serve as the foundation system for the...

last night i finished editing images of two incredible artifacts carefully removed the a. finkl & sons foundry. both depression-era artifacts join the ever-growing number of antique american industrial objects and furniture being salvaged from this notable sprawling chicago industrial complex. before being taken down and brought back to the shop, the porcelain enameled depression era cobalt blue "northern crane" sign...

he photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 23, 200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed...

as part of our ongoing salvage efforts at a notable chicago foundry complex, we finally gained access to yet another building on the sprawling industrial campus; the building formerly served as a distribution center for standard oil of indiana. there, we discovered several matching, unusually-shaped dirk saaf-designed white porcelain or vitreous enameled fixtures with original "stems" and ball-joint canopies. as of...

urban remains has been spending an increasing amount of time salvaging anything and everything of interest as demolition of the a. finkl & sons sprawling foundry complex has intensified over the past two weeks. the next few posts will cover the salvage efforts, along with the "unearthed" artifacts found at the site of the former downtown chicago howard johnson.  ...

i'm am so utterly exhausted from keeping up with documenting the alarming rate of inner-city demolitions happening week after week, despite redefining my eligibility parameters for seeking study materials from 19th century wood-framed chicago houses within my study period. extracting samples of wood lath, segments of joists and studs, nails, miscellaneous builders' hardware, sheathing, clapboard, brick, floor boards, etc., is still very much apart...

the gallery below represents one of my many sub-collections with a focus on early american signs (both vitreous or porcelain and baked-on enameled) that would be found in factory settings dotting the urban landscape. i selected these signs based on their subject matter, characteristic surface wear, rarity and color scheme. although i've slowed down in terms of acquisition, i will pick...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 23,100 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in...

the fate of the last original elevated "l" station on wabash avenue has been officially sealed when the city issued a demolition permit for the late 19th century palladian-designed structure. i very much hope to work with the wrecker to not only document (onsite) the station's destruction, but also collect any and all artifacts that otherwise will be scrapped. in the...

i had my eye on this little 19th century two-story gable or hipped wooden frame chicago cottage for weeks after i discovered that a demolition permit was pulled to obliterate it in preparation for a new residential development. after looking it over time and again, i strongly suspected the house might very well date to the 1850's or at the...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 23,000 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in...

salvage operation in progress: more to follow... recovered items cleaned and documented thus far.   end

very unique and primitive late 19th century single-sided exterior "foreman" occupational sign purportedly salvaged from the temporary and/or mobile construction office or shack housing the general contractors involved in the construction of the chicago world's fair of 1893 (more commonly referred to as the world's columbian exposition). the heavily weathered elongated oval-shaped pine wood sign contains cast iron letters affixed...

i've been spending the past couple of weeks visiting the sites of 19th century wood frame structures undergoing demolition. nearly all of these houses have been ravaged time and again with cobbled alterations to the point where any traces revealing visual cues of age, lie squarely in the frame work. i photographically document the demolition from the time the excavator...

the image gallery below provides several collections of 19th and early 20th century fragments and bottles unearthed from various demolition and/or dig sites in the city of chicago. from wolf's point to the wood-lined privy "vault" discovered at the john kent russell house (1855) and everything in between, the gallery reveals an image "database" of buried artifacts left behind long ago by chicagons...

i have yet to post concluding remarks on the final days of the gethsamane missionary baptist church's demolition. i'm so incredibly behind on posting about my involvement in this seemingly endless demolition craze because i'm either out the door at a moment's notice to document yet another site faced with the wrecking ball or taking care of business matters at urban remains. despite...