Salvages

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...

urban remains began salvaging the historically important c. 1855 john kent russell house yesterday afternoon. any and all interior architectural components were thoroughly documented and carefully removed. but before i begin what will likely be a series of posts revolving around the salvage of this pre-fire residence, i wanted to present a few images taken while i was exploring the...

shortly before the historic division street riveted plate steel bascule bridge (constructed in 1902-03) was fenced off in preparation for demolition, i spent an afternoon photodocumenting it from what felt like every conceivable angle to satisfy my mind's eye. accessing the hydraulic machinery below or underside of the bridge was rather challenging, but accomplished nonetheless. the north branch chicago river canal bridge...

years after the boylston factory salvage was completed, we are still actively incorporating boylston industrial objects into a variety of repurposed furniture and furnishings that can be used in a multitude of design settings or spaces. when we first arrived, the two "hidden" floors where a complete and utter mess. it was truly a challenge to develop a system where...

By Tanveer Ali on July 1, 2014 5:22am CHICAGO — In 1962, doctors at Grant Hospital at Webster and Lincoln avenues left a letter for those who would work in their place 50 years later. "In this day of possible nuclear destruction and biological suicide we doctors of 1962 are only assuming that there will be a succeeding generation to read this...

interior elements from the historically significant gethsemane missionary baptist church were salvaged earlier this week. during the process, i experienced a bit of a freak accident, when i fell off a ladder, bruising ribs and spraining my left arm. having been in the dark and intensely hot crawl space high above the hanging cross (preparing it for removal) for over an...

urban remains just acquired a limited supply of original american depression era railroad freight car flooring, comprised of remarkably dense and durable solid oak wood constructed "butcher-block" style. the rock solid wood planks were mostly salvaged from decommissioned great northern railway double-door steel box and postal railcars that traveled across the country for several decades. nearly every resized section in...

i've decided to add more posts pertaining to "gardenesque" ornament, perhaps inspired by what i've discovered in the chicago athletic association building (a topic i've written about before) and more recently, my revisitation of the ornamental terra cotta elements i managed to salvage from the michael reese "main" hospital building during its demolition. there is a very dense and highly...

i believe i have around 5,000 images taken thus far of the exterior and interior of the chicago athletic association building and annex. this vast collection of imagery has been subdivided into categories based on mostly subjective parameters i've put in place (e.g., location, materials and so on). today i decided to step away from the architectural details (i.e., close-ups) i always tend to gravitate towards and instead, capture the space as a whole, where many of its parts are placed in an actual context involving scale, arrangements or configurations and so on.  i spent a great of time in the old reading room, located on the second floor, where a forest of darkly stained gothic style quartered oak wood tracery surrounds me every-which-way.

we just purchased a huge load of all original all-metal or pressed and folded steel furniture designed and fabricated by the simmons mfg. co., kenosha, wisc. coming across a few pieces here and there is good, but having the opportunity to purchase "simmons" furniture on a very large scale rarely ever happens. the wide variety of furniture items (e.g., chairs...

in a single afternoon, six gargantuan hand carved limestone eagles were carefully hoisted from their perches that wrapped around three sides of the bunte candy factory water tower prior to demolition. the massive prairie school style factory complex was designed by the notable chicago-based architectural firm of schimdt, garden & martin in 1919.  

i spent a few hours the other day photographing any and all alterations that have been made since my last visit a few weeks prior. progress has been made, but not on a large scale - at least as of yet. regardless, i tend to find myself gravitating towards the rooms where the original architectural details have been left alone...

if my light source went dark, i would be in world of trouble. with a respirator, layer upon layer of clothing, clunky steel toe boots, tool belt and a headband flashlight, i began walking across this vast crawl space filled with criss-crossing structural iron trusses and a sea of incredibly dark and dusty plaster strung up by hundreds of steel...

hopefully within the next week or two, we will be removing the staircase and massive chandelier from the south side chicago jeffery theater lobby. in addition to myself and job site staff, we will have a reporter, photographer and a film crew planted there to document the removal of the artifacts. the focal point of course, will be the chandelier...

we managed to secure a total of four matching historically important oversized exterior ornamental cast iron single electric light sconces salvaged from the original wrigley jr. company's chewing gum factory, located at 35th and ashland avenue. as of early 2014, the factory complex continues to fall to the wrecking ball. the exceptional sconces were likely executed by the winslow brothers...

earlier this week i visited a chicago landmark building that was undergoing interior renovation - presumably for conversion into yet another "boutique" hotel. the preservationists appointed by the city were there to recommend what should be left intact in order to preserve what remained of the building's interior historic integrity - despite a remodeling in the 1940's, where all bronze...

any and all architectural artifacts bearing historic significance (i.e., original to the residence) were successfully removed from the loeb mansion this week. the georgian revival style allen loeb mansion, located at 1427 waverly road (highland park, il.), was completed in 1929. the 10,200 square foot stately residence was designed by the architectural firm of walcott and work, although there is strong...

after a month or so of historic research, photodocumenation and salvage preparation, we have been incredibly busy over the course of the last week meticulously removing significant interior and exterior artifacts from a sprawling late 1920's georgian style mansion set to be demolished in the next few weeks. due to the sensitive nature of this project, further information will be...