Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

after several months of an intensive collaboration - between eric j. nordstrom of bldg. 51 and tigerman mccurry art and architecture archivist nathaniel parks of the ryerson and burnham archives - spent gathering ephemera and artifacts chronicling the recovery and reconstruction of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1893) trading room, the finalized exhibit has been installed and is...

two richly ornamented and historically important architectural fragments from adler and sullivan buildings are the latest additions to the rapidly-expanding bldg. 51 archive and museum. the first piece, executed by james legge and cast in plaster, was salvaged from the 10th floor hotel dining room (now roosevelt university's library) in adler and sullivan's extant auditorium building, completed in 1889. the...

latest photographic images from ongoing restoration of howells and hood's bedford limestone tribune tower (1925) and cornerstone extraction of incised limestone cornerstone with time capsule from jarvis hunt's printing plant (1929). the majority of the images focus on capturing tradesmen restoring the tower's bedford limestone from their swing stages hanging off the facade like spiders in a web.  previous images...

a selection of images of 19th and early 20th century exterior residential prairie school architecture located in and around oak park, river forest and riverside. the majority of the images from this ongoing study focus on the ornamentation designed by notable chicago architects william drummond, frank lloyd wright, pond and pond, and purcell and elsmlie. i've taken nearly four thousand...

detail of chicago stock exchange trading room main truss stencil and monogrammed plaster discovered shortly after the false ceilings were removed by john vinci, richard nickel, and others assigned to dismantle ornament from the room. note the dust-covered mazda light bulbs (likely dating to the depression, when the room was converted into a bank by frost and granger) and...

"...this seething ocean of fire, fanned by a hurricane, and fed by the homes and household treasures of a hundred thousand people, everything dissolved—the flames flashing across a street in tongues, as from a compound blowpipe, would pierce a boasted fire-proof structure, and with the speed of thought cut it from front to rear. iron columns melted at the touch, and flamed away in lava to the basement, followed in a crash...

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 50,000 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 website categories.  

looking over newspapers on the guaranty building, i discovered plans that announced (january, 1951) to do away with the original open-cage sullivan-designed elevator enclosures within the guaranty building (adler & sullivan, architects, 1896). the "modernization" would cost 20,000, which included new otis elevator cabs ordered to replace the "antiquated cages." in subsequent decades, adler and sullivan's guaranty building fell into...

after well over three years, i've finally begun the arduous task of editing hundreds of photographic images documenting the recreation and installation of henry ives cobb's chicago athletic association building's (1893) gothic style cast plaster "drooping tip" illuminated ceiling, located in the building's great dining room. the original h.i. cobb-designed cast plaster ceiling "stalactites" (originally painted white and outfitted with...

i'll be spending the next several months documenting (off-and-on) 19th century residential structures in and around wicker park with an emphasis on workers cottages. an exhaustive photographic survey of these structures offered in condensed format (e.g., book, archive, etc.) is long overdue, espeically in light of the number of demolitions destroying the historic fabric of this neighborhood and others across...

the following images were selected from hundreds of photographs systemically documenting the long-overlooked a.d. german warehouse designed in 1914 by frank lloyd wright. located in richland center, wisc., the warehouse was the only building wright ever designed in the town he was born. the warehouse was built between 1917-1920 for local businessman albert dell german of richaland center, wisc.  the...

while making a futile attempt to further organize my photographic images of american architecture taken in 2016, i ran across several folders that were either mislabeled, simply "shelved," or forgotten about. some of the folders had content i found compelling enough to carve out time over the weekend to edit and add to my ever-growing portfolio pertaining to 19th and...

2019 has been an incredibly fruitful year in terms of ephemera, book, and artifact acquisition - based upon what the bldg. 51 museum archive has already secured, along with arrangements in the works or nearing finalization. the ever-growing museum archive has reached a critical mass, where a publicly accessibly venue is necessary to properly display and/or exhibit chicago-based 19th and...

urban remains and bldg. 51 museum owner eric j. nordstrom featured in october 2019 issue of sophisticated living magazine. magazine link: https://lsc-pagepro.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=619240&p=&pn=#{%22issue_id%22:619240,%22page%22:92}     further reading: THE URBAN ARCHAEOLOGIST URBAN REMAINS FEATURED IN PLAYBOY MAGAZINE IN 2011

the following collection of images - coupled with brief descriptions, were taken from a larger photographic essay (a work in progress) on the demolition of adler and sullivan's chicago stock exchange building (1894). the images are being digitized from nickel's contact sheets for the time-being.    richard nickel images documenting dismantlement of buff-colored terra cotta from the cornice of adler...

among the bldg. 51 museum archive's latest addition is an original frank lloyd wright-designed buff-colored terra cotta exterior robert roloson rowhouse (1894) baluster  salvaged when the front terraces where dismantled/demolished in the early 1970's. most of the surviving balusters exhibit some degree of damage, espeically around the necks and bases. a single centrally located iron rod was used to reinforce...

By LifestyleContributor Group This story appears in the September 29, 2014 issue of Forbes Life. By Forbes Staff , Contributor Around noon at the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, the post-metal band Jesu’s Ascension is tuned to a low thrash from a boom box with a cherry red city of Milwaukee sticker. Presiding over today’s salvation is Eric Nordstrom, owner of the...

the most recent interior photographic images chronicling the transformation of the s.a. maxwell loft building's upper floors into livable spaces are found below. at this stage, the upper floors are virtually unrecognizable when compared to images taken by richard nickel in the 1960's and myself shortly before interior demolition commenced in preparation for its new life as a boutique hotel...

photographic survey (in progress) of sullivan-designed red slip terra cotta spandrel panels, capitals and cornice on wainwright building by adler and sullivan and c.k. ramsey (1891). the 10-story building's terra cotta ornament was fabricated by the winkle terra cotta company (incorporated in 1889), st. louis, mo. i haven't been able to identify the modeler of sullivan's ornament for wainwright. it's...

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 50,000 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 website categories.