Salvages

as 2018 draws to a close, i culled the urban remains/bldg. 51 blog post archive to create a carefully curated collection of information, images, and acquisitions capping a year of relentless, unforgiving, and exhaustive work. the creation of this ever-expanding american architectural history database - revolving around 19th and early 20th century chicago construction materials and methods - has slowly morphed...

it’s been awhile since i’ve documented chicago houses faced with death by demolition. with such limited bandwidth as of late, it’s become increasingly hard to document everything i care deeply about. after seeing this 19th century masonry cottage land on the chopping block over the weekend however, i just had to get out and document it. on the way, i...

the following blog entry was first posted on july 15th, 2015. i spent the greater part of a day documenting and salvaging ornament from the historically-important early 20th century saloon building that has been identified as the only known "tied house" (i.e., exclusively sold and served standard-brand beer bottled and distributed by the standard brewery company (1892-1923) beer. the massive carved indiana limestone built-in rondel with the brewery's name...

yesterday afternoon i watched as the parapet wall with terra cotta name plaque come crashing down. in the process both border sections and rondel were chipped or damaged. the sullivanesque terra cotta is a total loss, but it appears the plaque - minus border - will live on. the ornament should have been saved - all of it. i'm so...

fulton market has been transforming at a dizzying pace, accelerated by the arrival of google in late 2015. since then, several early 20th century structures have either been wiped off the block or remain standing in the form of restored facades with newly-built buildings. HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT FULTON STREET MARKET DIRECTORY SHED'S LIGHT ON DISTRICT'S STORIED PAST i've documented and/or salvaged...

with some "downtime" (whatever that means) this evening, i decided to slowly begin processing the enormous mountain of data generated from the seemingly unending residential demolitions that happened back in april. it should be no surprise that nearly every blog post lately mentions my ongoing battle with time, and accordingly i rely on photography to at least bolster the visual record on the...

a selection of photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey is provided below. the architectural ornament is sourced from extant late 19th and early 20th century buildings within chicago's city limits. the majority of the buildings enjoy landmark status, while others are relatively unknown, but are dressed with highly stylized architectural ornament executed in a variety of mediums, including...

day one: restoration of the beaux-arts style cook county hospital facade, comprised of limestone, brick, and terra cotta, is well underway. the partially demolished hospital (i.e., rear wings and powerhouse in 2010) was completed in 1913-14 with paul gerhardt as architect (served as cook county architect from 1910 to 1913).    i included images where portions of the facade have...

another year of new residential development has once again left us to mourn the loss of hundreds of 19th and early 20th century house casualties leaving in its wake a quickly eroding historic fabric that has given chicago's neighborhoods visual character, identity, and a seemingly unbreakable link to the past. while i may feel tied down by discouragement and defeat...

the following image 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 (over 40,000 catalog listings to date). the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to their respective urban remains website categories.

i've devoted several hours each and every week at the ryerson and burnham library where the richard nickel archive is housed. there, i get lost in the past, where i carefully study, select, and digitize/edit thousands of images taken by photographer and salvager richard nickel beginning in the 1950's and ending in the early 1970's when he was tragically killed...

as of late nearly every cottage slated for demolition contains virtually no interior or exterior ornament worth salvaging due to countless renovations, remuddlings that have subsequently stripped those distinctive elements that contribute to a historically specific identity. i've come to accept this as the norm, but remain eager to engage with these cottages, irregardless of their lack of salvage "value." beyond...

montgomery ward's mail order house and administration building (1907) undergoing facade restoration. the mammoth 8-story reinforced concrete building accentuated with sullivanesque terra cotta ornament was completed in 1907 by architectural firm schmidt, garden, and martin. the ornament was designed by hugh garden. built as a warehouse and administration building by one of the nation's first large mail-order catalog businesses founded...

richard nickel images of adler & sullivan's solomon blumenfeld building taken during its demolition. the three-story building with limestone facade was built for chicago clothing merchant solomon blumenfeld between 1883-1884.  taken by nickel while still a student at the institute of design. nickel would revisit the adler & sullivan building in 1963 to document and/or salvage ornament. during its demolition...

  if i recall correctly, i salvaged an old pharmacy located in east chicago sometime in 2006. the family-owned business and the 1920's building housing it, shut down after a walgreens moved in around the corner. while salvaging the drugstore - or what was left of it -  the family would visit periodically and chat about the history of the...

although i'm not well-versed in bridge technology - in this case, a pony truss bascule bridge completed in 1914 - i figured it was worth an afternoon to document the historic chicago avenue bridge and operator houses not only to gain an appreciation for its materials and construction methods, but create a thorough visual record of it before its impending...

a found a bag of diminutive stainless steel letters and numbers the other day. completely slipped my mind i salvaged them over 10 years ago from veterans administration lakeside hospital (1950). i believe schmidt, garden, and erickson were the architects. the brushed steel letters discovered in a bag the other day. they were affixed to a slab of marble in...

the following selection of images were taken during the salvage operation at 170-172 n. halsted. we salvaged anything and everything, including old elevator equipment and a pair of steel elevator doors. our work is done there, but i will likely stick around to document the building's destruction. the modest early 20th century three-story commercial brick building was last occupied by...

  john vinci kodachrome images capturing the final moments of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) in late april of 1972. note the gargantuan main steel trusses (fully exposed) that spanned the elaborately stenciled trading room. the stock exchange was completed in 1894 by the architectural firm of dankmar adler and louis sullivan. the general contractor and/or builder george...

in preparation for my "deconstructing chicago" publication (slated for completion after "unearthing chicago hits circulation),  i continue data-gathering by documenting any and all building material used in the construction of the balloon frame, beginning from the 1840's on through the 1880's. all of the material collected thus far has been carefully harvested from numerous demolitions happening all around the city of chicago. in...