Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

i've traveled repeatedly to the city of aurora to thoroughly document george grant elmslie's five commercial buildings with an emphasis placed on the exterior terra cotta ornament he designed for each commission. aurora is home to the largest number of commercial buildings designed by elmslie.  the buildings are as follows: keystone building, 1923. old second national bank, 1924.  german-american bank...

shortly after acquiring a sizable amount of creosoted wood street pavers or blocks, several brown brothers vault light artifacts came through our front door last week. all of the documented artifacts were salvaged by a perceptive city contractor who knew i was vigorously seeking out any form of vault lighting (very little remains in chicago) that were being removed due...

the following gallery represents only a fraction of photographic images taken of louis h. sullivan's 1914 merchants' national bank during my trip to iowa, as i forge ahead documenting the ornament of his "jewel boxes" designed and built in small towns across the midwest between 1909 and 1919. when time permits, i will be posting additional images taken during my...

several historically important interior architectural artifacts from holabird & roche's 1893-94 old colony building were added to the bldg. 51 museum's building ornament archive earlier this week. the most important architectural elements headed to the museum's first chicago school exhibit include an ornamental wrought and cast iron staircase landing baluster and cast iron elevator screen. both pieces of displayable ornament...

documentation of chicago tribune tower (howells and hood, 1925) restoration continues. i included images of chicago architect jarvis hunt's printing plant (east of tower) with cornerstone plaque. the plant housed the printing presses below the newsroom, located on the top floor. the tower was primarily used for office space and mccormick's lavish rooms and personal office. booklets and brochures from...

the frank lloyd wright-designed waller apartments (located on the west side of chicago) were completed in 1896. a few years prior, wright was working as chief draftsman for the architectural firm of adler & sullivan. in 1893 louis h. sullivan fired wright after learning of his "bootleg" commissions. around the same time, wright completed the francis apartments (1895), constructed...

images from my photographic study of louis h. sullivan's peoples savings bank completed in 1911. located in cedar rapids fall, ia., peoples savings was the second of sullivan's "jewel boxes" built in small towns across the midwest. the bank was the last commission george grant elmslie assisted sullivan on.  LOUIS H. SULLIVAN'S OWATONNA BANK: A BUILDING BURSTING WITH ORNAMENT 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 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...

i've meticulously digitized, edited, and assorted over 600 images of the garrick theater salvaged operation from countless richard nickel contact sheets held at the ryerson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago. the 2 1/4 inch images chronicling adler and sullivan's garrick theater before, during, and after its destruction in 1961 have offered me tremendous insight into how the building...

an 1880s victorian-era two-flat with deeply incised joliet limestone window hoods and original sheet metal cornice, along with a neighboring wood-framed cottage with newer brick facade will be destroyed this week. the cottage was constructed in the 1870's, with a samuel rastall (occupation, printer) residing there in 1877, according to one of my lakeside directories. the houses are located on...

i haven't documented restoration work at cook county hospital (1914) since late last year. while the majority of the facade remains hidden behind a web of scaffolding covered in a white shroud, the east side of the facade remains exposed with ongoing repair work evident.  it's clear from the images that the elements and/or deferred maintenance did a number on...

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 urban remains website categories.  

the bldg. 51 museum archive recently acquired a louis h. sullivan-designed elevator screen electro-plated copper "t-plate" and cast iron header or frieze panel salvaged from the chicago stock exchange building (1893) during its demolition in 1972.  the exceptionally hard to find and highly sought after c. 1893-94 interior single-sided elevator grille ornamented stamped copper "t-plate" plaque was originally used to...

terra cotta restoration work being done on holabird and roche's 16-story marquette building. the reddish-brown terra cotta frieze panels with alternating pattern of interlocking anthemions, flowers and scrollwork are located above the large storefront windows. the panels along the east facade have been removed for repair or replacement.  the chicago school building was built in 1895 by george a fuller...

the following gallery of artifacts represent only a small fraction of the bldg. 51 museum archive, which is comprised of thousands of meticulously cataloged (with images and descriptions) objects, ornament, ephemera, and other materials revolving around the first and second chicago schools of architecture. additional "installations" will be added to the blog and bldg. 51 virtual museum (bldg51.com) website when...

the latest digitized images from notable chicago architect john vinci's collection of kodachrome and/or ektachrome slides and other photographic images/ephemera are presented below. to see previous posts containing images from this ever-growing collection, please click on links under "further reading." captions will be added to the slides as time permits.  as of june, 2019, over 4,000 vinci kodachrome slides,documenting american architecture from coast...

the following images were taken earlier this month, when i was in hyde park documenting late 19th and early 20th century architecture. i haven't followed restoration of the building's dome closely, but will reconsider if and when i make a return trip. the palace of fine arts building (known today as the museum of science and industry) was designed by charles atwood...

i've spent nearly a year now documenting exterior restoration work (i.e., repair and/or replacement of bedford limestone) on howells and hood's tribune tower completed in 1925. i need to see it through, so i'm sure i will be returning time and again throughout 2019.  a few other buildings i've devoted several months photo-documenting, include the terra cotta restoration of giaver...

most recent images selected from my ever-growing photographic survey of carved bedford limestone ornament adorning late 19th and early 20th century chicago homes. for a few years now, i've devoted several afternoons nearly each month, driving around and documenting bedford stone ornament found on residential and commercial buildings from 19th and early 20th century.  i have several thousand images...

a collection of blog posts (links listed below) on the destruction of 19th century erie street worker cottages on chicago's rapidly changing  near west side.  AN INTENSIVE STUDY ON MATERIALS AND METHODS USED IN BUILDING THE CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE PRIVY VAULT WITH SCATTERED REMNANTS UNEARTHED BEHIND A PRE-FIRE CHICAGO RESIDENCE ON ERIE STREET WEALTH OF ARTIFACTS DISCOVERED IN THE WALLS OF A...