Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

images with captions below: foundation work on d.h. burnham & company's 1906 addition to louis h. sullivan's schlesinger and mayer (later carson, pirie, scott and company) building. note the massive cast iron splayed footing caps. the multi-layered grillage under the column footings consisted of steel rails or beams (set perpendicular to each other) buried in concrete. images courtesy of ryerson...

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired two unusual chicago fire books (published, 1872) featuring a collection of gruesome accounts collected by writer and publisher george l. barclay. graphic lithographs including children being burned alive, criminals hung and "brained," and buildings being purposely detonated (often still occupied by families) in a desperate attempt to contain the fire. the booklets are some...

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...

the following images represent a well rounded cross section of historically important architectural materials added to the bldg. 51 archive in 2019. a more focused and in-depth blog post, will touch upon some of the more notable and historically important architectural artifacts acquired for the bldg. 51 museum collection.  all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51...

one of several posts documenting 19th and early 20th century architecture located in kalamazoo, mich. additional images and supplemental information will be provided when time permits.  images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2021.  further reading: strange ornament (not sullivan): a photographic study of adler and sullivan's dessenberg building (1885)  

all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2021.  ruination (e.g., 1850s "pioneer-era" houses and late 19th century brick worker cottages): restoration (discovery and repair of luxfer prism glass transom panels espeically interesting): unearthing la crosse (note the shards of old glass bottles, street pavers, and fired clay utility pipes):   further reading...

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...

new york-based harper's weekly covers opening of chicago stock exchange building designed by adler and sullivan in 1894. chicago stock exchange building (1894) as it appeared in the 1920's. the trading room as it appeared shortly after it was converted into the foreman bank in 1908 by architectural firm frost and granger. unidentified photographer. rare "sullivanesque" cast plaster capital...

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.

the st. louis-based winkle terra cotta co., with offices in the century bldg. at 9th and olive sts., and works at 5739 manchester ave., was established as the joseph winkle terra cotta works in 1883, located in cheltenham, a suburb of st. louis. in 1889 business was incorporated under the title of the winkle terra cotta company. the company, named...

photographic study of adler and sullivan’s dessenberg & company building (1885) located in kalamazoo, mich. the three-story commercial brick building with basement, was erected for grocer bernhard dessenberg by bush and patterson (76 north burdick street), a local construction firm. the exterior features unglazed reddish-orange terra cotta (executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, chicago, ills.), a stamped or pressed...

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...

photographic study meticulously documenting the sad state of j.l. silsbee's largely forgotten bandstand (1897) located in garfield park. the images provide visually compelling evidence of its decay and defacement through deferred maintenance.  image courtesy of chris ware. images courtesy of chris ware. the four-sided structure is faced with white marble supplied by the georgia marble company. the uniquely designed stamped...

the bldg. 51 archive has amassed several images, artifacts and ephemera pertaining to the architectural firm of burnham and root over the past several years, with the intention of creating a "virtual collection" to be easily accessed by any and all who have an interest in the firm from its inception in 1873, to the time of root's untimely demise...

finally made my way over to forest home cemetery to see the grave markers designed by william g. purcell for himself and wife cecily. when purcell passed in 1965, richard nickel set the stones to align perfectly at the time they met in 1935. it was sad to see that the stones had shifted a few inches, but the staff...

images of the 19th century balloon frame "specimen" library for use with "deconstructing chicago" book. a massive repository of cataloged sill plates, tree nails, tie rod anchors, brick, lath, joists, hardware, square nails, studs from demolished cottages is safely housed in the bldg. 51 museum archive.  examples of 19th century chicago workers cottage building materials documented in studio.  one of...

the following images carefully document (in great detail) surviving remnants from chicago's 1893 columbian exposition, held in jackson park on the south side of chicago (hyde park). i've included two original charles atwood-designed (d.h. burnham & company) exterior arc lamp posts (used on the fairgrounds, but later relocated shortly after the fair ended), ornamental cast iron newel posts (also designed...

the bldg. 51 museum's extensive collection of  late 19th and early 20th century "sullivanesque" style commercial building terra cotta is presented below in an exhaustive, ever-growing photographic survey conducted by eric j. nordstrom. the terra cotta ornament was designed by disciples of louis h. sullivan's, including "gardenesque" (named after hugh garden of schmidt, garden and martin) and sullivan's longtime chief...

a case of recycling architectural ornament in the late 19th century.  if you look closely at the ornament on adler and sullivan's 1893 chicago world's fair transportation building at least four sections of ornament reappeared in both plaster and bedford limestone (i.e., the exterior lunette) in the albert sullivan house (1892), where sullivan himself lived from 1892-1896. richard nickel documented...

a set of newly discovered oversized mounted albumen photographic prints depicting - in great detail - william le baron jenney's leiter ii building (1891) while under construction has joined the bldg. 51 museum's architectural ornament and image archive. the now-digitized sepia-toned photographic prints by notable 19th century architectural photographer james w. taylor were likely printed specifically for chicago-based vierling, mcdowell...