Miscellaneous

with a surprisingly large number of frequent acquisitions populating both museum and gallery these last three months, i have been deeply entrenched in documenting and displaying ephemera and artifacts in a satisfactory manner before another acquisition – big or small – arrives and leaves everything once again in disarray. the following images provides a glimpse at some of the latest...

a symphony of color. interior images of boston avenue united methodist church (bruce goff of rush, ednacott & rush; with adah robinson, 1929), located at 1301 s. boston ave., tulsa, ok. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023.

exterior images of boston avenue united methodist church (bruce goff of rush, ednacott & rush; with adah robinson, 1929), located at 1301 s. boston ave., tulsa, ok. images courtesy of the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023. 

the house on "thrill hill." bruce goff's john frank house, located at 1300 luker lane, sapulpa, ok., was designed for frankcoma pottery founder john frank in 1955. further reading:  the house is a one-story building made of glazed brick and tile, stucco, terra cotta roofing tile, and glass that can be opened up to be one room by either sliding...

bruce goff's redeemer lutheran church educational building (1961), located at 3700 se. woodland rd., bartlesville, ok. entry from the “visit bartlesville” website: “creative architecture” best describes the redeemer lutheran church education building designed by well-known architect bruce goff. goff designed the building to be bright, functional and appealing to children. the most outstanding feature of the building is the ears...

exterior photographic survery of frank lloyd wright's price tower (1956), located at 510 s. dewey avenue, bartlesville, ok. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023.  note: photographic images of several buildings designed by bruce goff, barry byrne, alfonso iannelli, frank lloyd wright, harvey ellis, and claude bragdon were visited during a recent...

well over a hundred original books, brochures, booklets, pamphlets, lithographic plates, and guides pertaining to any and all facets of the chicago world's fair of 1893 or "columbian exposition," have recently landed in the bldg. 51 archive. more information on this recent and sizable acquisition will be provided when the collection of fair material has been thoroughly documented and digitized...

howard van doren shaw's headless bedford limestone eagles and the pregnant wife of builder sandstone profile built against entrance door are two of the more interesting and some ways tragic features discovered while documenting roseland and surrounding areas. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023.

the bldg. 51 chicago building artifact museum acquired yet another (and more complete)  john edelmann-designed hand carved walnut wood interior residential door surround block and plinth salvaged in 1959-60 from the levi strauss house (1860s, 1880 remodel). the house's interior ornament - all designed by john edelmann during the 1880 remodel - was documented and salvaged by richard nickel, david...

a well-maintained 19th century (post-fire) two-story masonry or brick residence located at 851 w wolfram street in the lakeview neighborhood of chicago, will be reduced to rubble by the end of the week. the green fence was being erected at the time i arrived to carefully record the structure and all of its original ornament, including a fret-sawn wood bracketed...

a historically important, well-preserved buff colored terra cotta fragment from adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) was added to the bldg. 51 museum collection this past week. the fragment represents george grant elmslie's (sullivan's chief draftsman) attempt at detailing ornament on his own while working for adler and sullivan. the spandrel panel was found - along with other...

latest photographic images from bldg. 51 archive's chicago architectural ornament survey (caos) are provided below. the ever-expanding photo-documentation project focuses on systematically recording any and all architectural ornament located on historically important 19th and early 20th century extant buildings located in downtown chicago and surrounding neighborhoods. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved...

george maher’s patrick j. king house (1901), located at 3234 w. washington blvd., chicago, ills. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023. 

burnham and root's william e. hale house (1885-86), located at 4545 s. drexel blvd., chicago, ills. hale was best known as an innovator in elevator technology. louis sullivan stated that hale, who developed hydraulic and electric elevators, was one of two men "responsible for the modern office building." he later sold the company to the winslow brothers foundry. images courtesy...

a sizeable collection of exceptionally rare 19th and early 20th century architectural books, catalogs, monographs and guidebooks was purchased for the bldg. 51 archive in late january, 2023. a few acquisition highlights that have been digitized at the time of this post are listed below. original monograph of h.h. richardson’s austin hall, harvard law school, cambridge, mass., from the architectural...

an original louis h. sullivan-designed exterior residential carved wood fragment salvaged from adler and sullivan's morris selz house (1883) during its demolition in 1967 was recently acquired by the bldg. 51 museum collection. a total of four hand-carved painted pine wood framed floral panels were mounted flush on the underside of the house's gridded porch ceiling, extending or radiating  from...

after nearly five years, i finally found the time to carefully select and edit several images taken of h.h. richardson's austin hall (1881) during an exhaustive photographic survery of the building's elaborate polychromatic stonework.  images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023. 

the following images were taken during a recent trip to racine, wisc., where timothy j. samuelson and i had an afternoon to explore the city's unique architecture, from bryne and iannelli's  st. patrick's church to cecil corwin's mitchell house. to my suprise, 19th century vernacular architecture, including, but not limited to, cream city brick residential workers cottages, commerical buildings and...

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural artifacts added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 75,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 16 years). the newly acquired items for the month of JANUARY, 2023, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to their respective website categories. any and all cataloged...

photographic survey of frank lloyd wright's george blossom residence (1892), located at 4858 south kenwood ave, chicago, ills.  To supplement his salary, Wright began taking on independent commissions in violation of his five-year contract with Louis Sullivan. Known as the “bootleg houses,” these early designs typically reflect historical architectural styles, yet exhibit elements that would manifest themselves fully in Wright’s...