Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

the looming threat of the second german evangelical zion church's destruction, which had been in a holding pattern for months, was handed its death sentence when the demolition permit was released and the wrecker arrived with equipment to prepare it for destruction. thankfully, i managed to document the interior and exterior on several occasions including the final day before the...

one of the most widely recognized, largely intact, and well-maintained worker cottages is the martin schnitzius residence, built in 1891 by the architectural firm of bettinghofer and hermann. the unique design and/or use of ornamentation is a notable example of a more upscale queen anne style cottage when compared to the more traditional and/or common and frequently found cottages built...

an impressive 19th century chicago (wicker park neighborhood) three-flat apartment building with distinctive masonry punctuated with ornamental anderson pressed brick, fret-sawn wood window lunettes and amazingly intact surrounding ornamental cast and wrought iron newel, bracket and pipe railings flanking stoops and along sidewalk, will be reduced to rubble in the coming weeks. in addition, a pre-fire wood-framed chicago workers cottage...

objects used in the protest over the demolition of adler & sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894) building in 1972. the battle was lost and the building was destroyed. during the course of demolition, architectural photographer richard nickel was killed salvaging ornament when a portion of the trading room collapsed above him. kodachrome slide of richard nickel in 1972...

signatures left by three tradesmen on h.i. cobb's chicago athletic association building (1893) facade.  george h. macomber, building superintendent, george a fuller construction company. inscribed, 1891. "michael." inscribed, 1893. john arnold, stonsetter (stonemason), john a. fuller construction company. inscribed, 1891. signature detail. image taken from scaffolding during facade restoration. photo courtesy of eric j. nordstrom photography.     signature detail...

for such a historically important early adler and sullivan loft building – built around the same time as the jewelers building - richard nickel didn’t take many images (a few contact sheets) of a.s. gage & company store – later known as the revell building, which was one of the firm’s largest commissions prior to the auditorium. nickel shot the...

recently digitized richard nickel images of burnham and root's phenix building (1887) during its demolition by midwest wrecking in 1957. i was pleasantly surprised to run across both contact sheets and 8 x 10 images of the building's demolition since very few images of chicago school commercial buildings wrecked in the 1950's exist.  the first floor, including the elaborately decorated arched entrance on...

the three-story hollenbach seed company building designed by the architectural firm of worthmann and steinbach and completed in 1912, was reduced to rubble in a matter of hours yesterday afternoon. sadly, the distinctive sprayed-glaze red terra cotta ornament, including the centrally located name plaque bearing the owner's name, was destroyed during demolition. surprisingly, there was absolutely no interest and/or arrangements...

bldg. 51 museum gifted an original early 20th century multi-colored tiled panel salvaged from a chicago comed station demolished long ago. these distinctive tiles panels were used repeatedly on herman von holst's substations in an attempt to beautify otherwise unsightly utilitarian complexes that public utilities magnate samuel insull hired him to build in residential neighborhoods across the city of chicago.  the...

photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey are provided below. the digital images focus on architectural ornament located on historically important extant buildings located within the city of chicago.  the photographic survey, spear-headed by eric j. nordstrom, is an ongoing project that in time will materialize in a book and digital database with descriptive details to accommodate each and...

the following image gallery offers a glimpse at the latest american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or miscellaneous objects added to the ever-expanding urban remains virtual catalog (over 65,000 items digitized/cataloged over the past 15 years). the newly acquired items for the month of JANUARY, 2021, have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to...

the hollenbach building (1912) will be the latest casualty to succumb to the rapidly changing fulton market cityscape on the west side of chicago. the three-story brick and terra cotta commercial building was built for charles hollenbach’s seed company in 1912 at a cost of 12,000 dollars by the architectural firm of worthmann and steinbach. hollenbach ran his seed company operation...

original museum-quality 20th century american hexagonal-backed side chair salvaged from the imperial hotel (tokyo, japan), prior to demolition in the late 1960's. the iconic "peacock" side chair was designed by architect frank lloyd wright, with an original drawing for an "overstuffed chair" dating back to 1921. the chair that resides in the bldg. 51 museum collection was likely fabricated between...

earlier this afternoon i received a small package containing a historically important relic or "souvenir": a pile of melted or fused threaded screws found in the "burnt district" shortly after the great chicago fire was extinguished in 1871. the screws were likely housed in a box found in a hardware store, house or some other commercial building downtown. according to an informational tag containing comments hand-written in...

carefully selected collection of recently digitized late 19th century albumen mounted prints of first chicago school architecture coupled with brief descriptions cataloged below. the collection is listed in chronological order (i.e., the most recent digitized images are listed at the top). albumen print of burnham and root's drafting room located on the top floor of the rookery building (burnham and...

the following blog post links arranged in chronological order below offer highlights of the work of eric j. nordstrom, urban remains, and the bldg. 51 museum archive in 2019. over the past few years my work towards creating and/or collaborating with people and organizations deeply entrenched in architectural preservation has greatly intensified, which is clearly reflected in the posts i...

i've finally whittled down my collection of completely intact chicago-based mid-19th century soda bottles with embossed lettering and iron-pontiled bases. the majority of the bottles were discovered long-forgotten privy pits in and around downtown chicago. the earliest sodas in the collection were found at wolf point, site of grand central station and chicago river, where they were likely pitched from...

latest photographic images from the chicago architectural ornament survey (as of january, 2021) is provided below. the digital images focus on architectural ornament located on historically important extant buildings located in and around the wicker park neighborhood of chicago. the photographic survey, spear-headed by eric j. nordstrom, is an ongoing project that in time will materialize in a book and...

sullivanesque in clinton, iowa. images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. further reading:  VAN ALLEN BUILDING: A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF LOUIS SULLIVAN'S POLYCHROMED TERRA COTTA ORNAMENT

from three years ago: the south side masonic temple (1921) is presently under demolition.  it has been less than six months since I documented the demolition of the logan square masonic temple, also by clarence hatzfeld, architect, and more can be read about his prolific career and special emphasis on masonic temples in that post driving to englewood today the...