Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

the following images offer a detailed visual documentation of adler and sullivan's auditorium tower (1889). the base is comprised of granite provided by the minnesota granite company (quarried in the vermillion iron ore mines of st. louis county minnesota). additional granite was provided by the hallowell company, located in maine (the stone was quarried from both fox island and spruced...

the following images represents a small, but representative collection of figural and/or emblematic american architectural artifacts housed in the bldg. 51 musuem. the majority of the architectural elements are comprised of terra cotta and were salvaged in and around chicago.  all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2022.

for nearly two decades - if not longer - i've witnessed countless irreplaceable mid-to-late 19th century wood-framed worker cottages targeted for rapid removal and erasure. for the most part every site is the same, where i must carefully and methodically parse through each and every component of a cottage as it's rapidly torn apart before my eyes - usually in...

terra cotta skyline. the kirchbaum building, located at 6560 n. sheridan rd., was designed in 1922 by the architectural firm of ronneberg, pierce and hauber. the terra cotta city skyline mural is comprised of three recessed panels, beginning with fort dearborn and ending with the wrigley building. the two-story commercial building was built for clothing manufacturer bernard kirshbaum as an...

the first group of images, taken by richard nickel and harold allen, date to 1965. timothy j. samuelson's kodachromes show the interior as it appeared in 1973. a disastrous fire gutted the building in 2006, leaving the outer bedford limestone walls, supported by steel skeletal bracing. 1965: 1973: recreated and/or surviving ornament designed by adler and sullivan in 1890: images...

formal grand opening of the urbans remains showroom and bldg. 51 musuem and archive will likely be pushed back to late october, when tranfer of any and all museum and/or historically important building artifacts are removed from crates and installed. in the meantime, i'm posting additional photos of the gallery (a work in progress) as it nears completion.  images courtesy...

NEWS | SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 2022 Alice Award for Illustrated Books Winner Announced COURTESY OF FURTHERMORE GRANTS IN PUBLISHING    Hudson, NY — Furthermore grants in publishing, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, is pleased to announce the 2022 Alice is awarded to Alphawood Foundation, Chicago, IL for its publication, Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece (Alphawood Foundation, Chicago, 2021). The beautifully...

over 22 years and hundreds of thousands of images later, urban remains et al. trudges on (let's hope).  OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA images courtesy of of eric j. nordstrom. all rights reserved. 2022. 

Chirag G. Badlani, Executive Director of Alphawood Foundation Chicago, is pleased to announce that the Foundation has won the 2022 Alice Award for its publication, Reconstructing the Garrick: Adler & Sullivan’s Lost Masterpiece (Alphawood Foundation Chicago, 2021). The lavishly illustrated, 352-page book was edited by John Vinci with Tim Samuelson, Eric Nordstrom, and Chris Ware, and designed by Chris Ware...

a collection of images chronicling adler and sullivan's walker warehouse from the time it was completed in 1889 to its eventual destruction in 1953. the images were taken by a number of photographers beginning with taylor in 1889 and ending with id students in 1953. i've included images by photographers james taylor, william g. purcell, harold allen, ralph marlow line...

images (taken nearly a decade ago) of the original open-ended switch board (removed from service during the 1940s) housed in the basement of the lumber exchange (later known as the roanoke building). the interconnected slate panels, once illuminated by i.p. frinke mirrored reflectors, are adorned with copper "jack-knife" switches, glass-encased volt and watthour meters and signage.  the roanoke building 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 JUly, 2022, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to their respective website categories. any and all cataloged inventory...

before and after: disgraced and disfigured through intentional negclect and abandonment. two years after awarded preliminary landmark status, edward uihlein’s schiltz-tied commercial building and flats was largely forgotten and left abandoned. consequently, the building’s exterior ornament (e.g., stamped or pressed ornamental copper) has been defaced, stripped and ultimately destroyed. with several windows punched out, the building’s structural integrity is threatened...

defaced. for years i've admired and repeatedly documented the ornament on hy biermann's store and flats (1887). the red slip is so delicate... what a god damn disappointment. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 museum. all rights reserved. 2022.

  a number of mid-19th century bottles were recently unearthed deep below the site of chicago’s former grand central station, with the four richly colored iron and smooth base soda bottles serving as the inspiration to further investigate the slew of structures that were built above ground dating back to the age of the bottles (1855-1859). the plot of land...

for the past several years now, i've assembled a sizeable photographic database of ornamental red body terra cotta found on 19th century (1880-1899) residential and commerical buildings within chicago's city limits. brief descriptions, including addresses, year constructed, architect (if known) and building status, will be provided when time permits.  images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom. all rights reserved. 2022. 

the following images represent carefully curated online collection of exterior ornamental terra cotta salvaged from historically important chicago commerical building. the ornament is housed in the bldg. 51 museum, located in downtown chicago.  images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2022. 

as more and more 19th century cottages succumbed to the wrecking ball over the course of the past year, i could not help but entertain the idea of salvaging bigger and more visually-striking house "systems," whose parts alone are powerful in size and scale.   in the beginning, over two years ago, i pushed the concept of creating a massive...

  after mecca, before crown. great collection of images (possibly taken by nickel) of excavation work for mies's crown hall (1956) at iit. the images - scanned this afternoon from contact sheets - offer a great visual record of the surrounding area, including long-gone buildings along state street.  i see lindahl did the excavation, but if i recall correctly speedway...

Wainwright Building (1891): original copper-plated ornamental cast iron newel post salvaged from adler and sullivan's wainwright building (1891) during extensive interior renovations that virtually gutted the building of its original sullivan-designed ornament - including staircases, elevators, woodwork, door hardware, etc. the newel was likely executed by the winslow brothers, chicago, ills. it's possible wright did some of the detailing with...