Salvages

the following image gallery offers some of latest american architectural builders' hardware aquired over the past month. the salvaged chicago residential and commerical hardware dates to the late 19th and early 20th century.  images courtesy of urban remains and eric j. nordstrom. all rights reserved. 2021. 

around the time i began salvaging a chicago italianate row house constructed shortly after the fire, i was deeply immersed in the book, “the carpenter and joiner, and elements of hand-railing,” written by robert riddell in 1869. the highly technical book discusses the “art” of stair building in great detail pertaining to methodologies with several plates illustrating construction techniques focusing...

i am thrilled to have finally located and authenticated two heavily carved oak wood staircase railings salvaged from the potter palmer mansion or "castle," designed and built by architects henry ives cobb and charles sumner frost between 1883-1885. the railings were acquired by the bldg. 51 museum collection after confirming their existence "in situ" through images of the palmer mansion...

the cornelius c. hopper house (1863) was demolished in a matter of hours late last week. sadly, very little, if anyhting, was salvaged from the exterior and/or interior of the three-story italiante style masonry residence punctuated with unornamented lemont limeston window hoods. the original solid walnut staircase, with turned newel post and spindles, was likely executed by john kent russell's...

civil war-era italianate style residence built for cornelius c. hopper in 1863-64 faces imminent demolition. according to period city directories, hooper was secretary of the peoples gas light and coke company. wood or tin ornamental bracketed cornice and rooftop cupola were removed/destroyed long ago. original unornamented joilet/lemont limestone window hoods, clerestory windows and pediment above centrally located circle-top window with...

SELECTED DIG STORIES FROM 2014-2019: FREQUENTLY UNEARTHED BOTTLES OF STOVE POLISH TIED TO NEGLECTED FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT-DESIGNED FACTORY BUILDING UNEARTHING THE REMAINS OF THE FORMER CURTISS FACTORY - HOME OF THE "BABY RUTH" CANDY BAR THE MOST COMMONLY UNEARTHED BOTTLE IN CHICAGO AND ITS CONNECTION WITH LOUIS H. SULLIVAN'S UNTIMELY DEATH 19TH CENTURY BUILDING PARTS AND BOTTLES UNEARTHED DURING EXCAVATION...

in the upcoming year, i will be revisiting the sites of once notable buildings now reduced to rubble and trucked off to the landfill. before their demolition, i documented and rescued artifacts from these pre and post-fire buildings, most of which were commercial, all located in and around downtown chicago. beginning with a pre-fire crane factory building located near the...

the time spent recording the demolition of chicago’s historic graystones, workers cottages, two-flats, and commercial buddings has been a personal hell i’ve forced myself to grapple with again and again from the moment i arrive at these sites with camera and tools to salvage and/or document their destruction. after nearly two decades of struggling with seemingly inescapable burnout, i’ve witnessed...

as a semi-retired architectural "salvager," i find this collection of images taken by r. nickel of the chicago stock building's terra cotta cornice being dismantled and trucked offsite riveting. the work is brutal and unforgiving. after looking closely at nickel's contact sheets, i'm amazed at how methodical he was - salvaging and/or documenting every stage of the building's slow and...

from a previous post dated april 25th, 2016: a gargantuan early twentieth century neoclassical style commercial building, originally built for the public life insurance company and last occupied by the plumbing council of chicagoland, was recently handed a death sentence in the form of a demolition permit that virtually came out of nowhere. despite its landing in the public domain...

fragments of chicago's past from the collections of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive.  objects of interest: -granite paver unearthed near the site of the 1886 haymarket riot. the massive pavers were used to support the weight of crane company carts loaded with brass, bronze, and iron fittings. -brown brothers cast iron sidewalk vault light fragment with glass...

by the time i arrived in the summer of 2007, the nortown theater was already dead. stripped of its utilities, burnt by fire, and extensively damaged by prolonged neglect. note: salvaging/documenting the nortown theater's facade and its ornamental terra cotta was addressed in a previous blog entry, so the majority of the images in this entry are devoted to the theater's...

urban remains and bldg. 51 recently acquired several sections of historically important egyptian revival style spray-glazed terra cotta ornament from the non-extant walter bailey-designed knights of pythias building (1928), also referred to as the "skyscraper" of bronzeville.  the building's architect, walter thomas bailey, was an american architect from kewanee, illinois. he was the first african american graduate with a bachelor...

photographic survey of lakeview state bank building's demise. the restrained neoclassical style bank building was built around 1921. the exact architect is not known. none of the existing ornament was saved, including vast mounts of dressed limestone furnished by the indiana limestone company, bedford, ind.  as of this writing, the bank building has been reduced to rubble.  images courtesy of...

bernie sahlins (one of the founders of second city) secured terra cotta ornament from adler and sullivan's schiller/garrick building (1892) during its demolition in 1961. the ornament - salvaged from the second floor balcony - was incorporated into the facade of their new building located at 1846 n. wells street. according to sahlins, the entire assembly, which included the four...

the three structures have been completely destroyed since the time i documented them last week. chicago workers cottage: sullivanesque commercial building: neoclassical limestone corner bank: images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2021.

a virtual gallery consisting of hundreds of architectural artifacts (several being historically important) and miscellaneous objects discovered and documented by eric j. nordstrom during the past 15 years salvaging residential and commercial structures faced with demolition or senseless disfigurement. when time permits, i will be assigning narratives to each and every item for identification and importance. any and all artifacts...

a collection of artifacts salvaged from the ywca (1896) hotel. the building was designed by architect was john m. van osdel ii, nephew of prominent chicago architect john mills van osdel. the building was demolished in 2009 after decades of deferred maintenance and abandonment.  looking back, i'm disappointed i didn't salvage more, but at the time, i did this one...

images of elevator drums (two), foundation grillage, structural riveted joint columns, buff-colored terra cotta (northwestern terra cotta), and floor slabs unearthed during excavation (i.e., potholing) in preparation for new construction erected on site of parking lot that replaced jenney's isabella building (1893).  ABOVE BROUND: BELOW GROUND: Morse elevator all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive...

a detailed photographic documentary on the transformation of adler and sullivan's 5-story s.a. maxwell loft building (also known as jewelers building) facade is presented below as a collection of blog posts chronicling ruination to restoration.  PREVIOUS POSTS (2018-2021): S.A. MAXWELL BUILDING FACADE RESTORATION NEARING COMPLETION WITH INSTALLATION OF RECREATED CAST STONE PIERS RECONSTRUCTING LOUIS H. SULLIVAN-DESIGNED S.A. MAXWELL BUILDING'S (1881...