Salvages

stripped down to an early pine wood clapboard - likely added during the late 19th century - the modest two-story wood frame cottage awaits its demise. the chicago workers cottage was moved around some, with the last being at the rear of this lot, to accommodate the inclusion of a 1900's-era structure that came and went. cottages or "coach...

1035 north marshfield (the street was known as rumsey at the time of construction), a two-story victorian era brick boarding house with decorative lemont limestone trim above the windows and entrance, was demolished in a matter of hours late last week. the following images and brief descriptions provide a visual record of its existence before being reduced to rubble. perhaps...

  i began documenting john eberson's atmospheric avalon theater (1927) early last week, and many additional visits lie on the horizon. aside from embarking on the creation of a visual record of the theater's interior and exterior ornament, i managed to spend time in the attic. there i found several mazda light bulb boxes, piled high around the electric "stars...

in a previous post, i devoted a considerable amount of time to sharing both images and informational notes regarding the careful and systematic extraction of a post-fire chicago italianate row house interior staircase, comprised largely of walnut wood. the inspiration to focus solely on the structure's staircase was drawn from a book i had been studying at the time, entitled...

i moved quickly to document any and all ornament adorning the lobby and auditorium of the 1927 olympic hotel, formerly known as the sokol slavsky building. Most of it had remained original and largely unaltered since time of construction, and i was preparing to commit the remainder of the afternoon to exploring the theater's remaining untouched nooks and crannies. hopefully...

for several decades, a maze of cramped and cluttered rooms and hallways hidden within a west side post-fire chicago (1872) italianate rowhouse have remained largely unaltered. despite being dissected into multiple "apartments" during the 1930's, defining architectural elements such as the marble mantels, solid walnut staircase, and multi-part pine wood moldings are still amazingly intact, offering a rare glimpse of...

i was already mentally and physically exhausted prior to beginning the lengthy salvage conducted at the post-fire italianate style charles c. p. holden block (1872). a developer had acquired the property with the intention of stripping it down to "four brick walls" to convert into mixed-residential and commercial use; the restoration of the facade didn't seem to be of major...

the gradual process of uncovering the multitude of undisturbed objects left behind by the congress theater tradesmen, prior to the theater's grand opening in september of 1926, has inspired me to put together a book detailing my experiences witnessing the resurrection of these long-forgotten tradesmen. by uncovering discarded items, i was provided with an insight into the goods they consumed...

i've finally made time to revisit a salvage i was involved in nearly 8 years ago- a move sparked in part by rediscovering several buried terra cotta fragments that were packed away. it all began after receiving a phone call from daniel "danny" lampa, owner of midwest wrecking, over the demolition of "an old hospital" located at 135 s. sangamon street...

the following gallery offers a glimpse at the most recent american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to our ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog. the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to their respective website categories.

i approached my exploration of the patio much as i had the congress, spending most of my time in the theater’s attic, looking for any and all objects left behind by the tradesman who worked there in the winter of 1926 (this timeframe is based on the opening date of january 29, 1927, and on several fragmented newspapers found sporadically...

i was either 10 or 11 years of age when an old friend of mine would invite me to the small town of bangor, wisc., to explore what remained of the dilapidated buildings consisting of the joseph hussa brewery. brewmaster hussa constructed the primary limestone brewhouse during the mid-19th century, but shortly thereafter, he sold the brewery to frederick raasch...

in a happy chain of events, my documentation of the congress theater led to unabridged access of another historic chicago theater, once owned by the same developer. the patio theater opened in january of 1927 in the portage park neighborhood, and it remains today a moderately-sized and largely unaltered atmospheric style movie palace at the intersection of austin and irving...

a rare example of a largely intact and well-maintained gothic style victorian wood-framed cottage built shortly after the chicago fire of 1871 will be reduced to rubble this week. the two story wood-framed cottage likely was built on the site of a structure that succumbed to the fire as it was located well within the "burnt district," where the path...

i've finally made time to meticulously catalog long forgotten remnants (largely in the form of ephemera) i've collected over the years from 19th and early 20th century structures undergoing extensive renovation or demolition. discovering and recording historically important material formerly sealed off and forgotten provides a portal to the past where "snapshots" from a different time can be reconstructed and...

  in addition to the week's acquisition of plaster frieze work from frank lloyd wright's dana-thomas house, the bldg. 51 museum has obtained numerous historically important fragments of plasterwork from adler & sullivan's garrick theater auditorium. originally named the schiller theater, the building was designed by louis sullivan and dankmar adler in 1891 at 64 west randolph street. it was...

even as greater attention has been directed toward endangered 19th century wood-framed chicago cottages, there has been a dearth of conversation around the looming threat toward wood-framed commercial structures. a steady stream of demolition permits continues to painfully destroy the integrity of enough neighborhoods across the city to garner attention, but there are actually few commercial structures from that period...

i spent the greater part of my afternoon - away from shop and studio - to photodocument a largely intact post-fire )1872-1874) wood-framed workers cottage (located in old town) as it was quickly reduced to rubble in a matter of hours. the very first image, where the machine operator punched his bucket through the pair of arch top windows was...

having recently unearthed a time capsule from the cornerstone of the holy bethel church at adams and damen, my attention wandered to other cornerstones in the bldg. 51 collection, and in particular, the fragment of the cornerstone pictured on the cover of the building 51 catalog (published just last year). this fragment, on the face of the first bldg. 51...

this post concerns an entire city block, containing a collection of historically significant post-fire "athens marble" italianate style rowhouses. each has witnessed fires, neglect, utter abandonment, and demolition since the houses were completed in 1874. in these rather depressing "ruins," i could only catch a glimpse of the street's former self.         the present day block is pocked...