Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

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...

the first story facade is all that remains of the huron street cottage built around 1887 (as discussed in a previous post below). TWO-STORY 1880'S HURON STREET BRICK CHICAGO WORKERS COTTAGE WITH JOLIET LIMESTONE WINDOW HOODS SET TO BE DEMOLISHED IN COMING DAYS from a previous post on may 2, 2019: yet another 1880s two-story residential brick cottage located in...

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.

Remembering the Garrick: An Evening with John Vinci Tuesday, September 24, 2019 7:00 PM  8:00 PM Glessner House1800 S. Prairie AvenueChicagoUnited States(map) Google Calendar  ICS The Garrick Theater (originally known as the Schiller Building) looms large in Chicago history – both as a masterpiece of Adler & Sullivan and as one of the earliest organized efforts to preserve an important part of...

  over the past decade, i've taken tens of thousands of images of milwaukee architecture, and it continues to grow each and every time i visit, espeically when newly discovered residential and commercial buildings are added to my "circuit." like the work i do in chicago, a book on milwaukee's architecture is long overdue.  the following gallery of images represent just a fraction of images...

this largely intact 19th century brick cottage - located on bell street in bucktown - was issued a demolition permit earlier this week. while no machine was present, the green fence was already up and services cut. i imagine it will be in the landfill by next week. after a quick survey of the neighborhood, i was surprised that i...

for over 13 years, urban remains continues to be one of the leading architectural artifact companies in the county, distinguished by its ever-expanding website, populated with over 35,000 objects and artifacts meticulously cataloged with professional images and detailed descriptions. our newest website, launched earlier this week, includes several new features, including, but not limited to: clean, modern, minimalist design responsive...

yet another 1880s two-story residential brick cottage located in chicago's west town neighborhood will be reduced to rubble by the end of the week. according to an 1887 city directory, arthur heun, a draughtman, resided there, located at what was then 334 huron steet.  the 19th century brick residence features lightly incised joliet limestone window hoods, double arch top attic...

one of two 19th century single-story brick workers cottages on race street (formerly known as emerson street) is set to be destroyed in the coming weeks. the boarded cottage with unornamented joliet limestone block headers, oculus window, and turned wood porch columns is located just west of the first, and will likely be next on the chopping block this summer...

prismatic glass appeared on the american market at the 1893 columbian exposition in chicago from gustave falconnier. falconnier was an architect and city council member in nyon, france. a graduate of the ecole des beaux-arts in paris, falconnier had many patents in the 1880s for various types of glass block with interesting geometric shapes. prismatic glass was ribbed on one...

hodgepodge of images including a figural sandstone keystone, sullivan-designed fret-sawn panel detail from holy trinity (1903), safe and threatened cottages, incised lemont window hoods, northwestern terra cotta ornament, anderson pressed brick neogrec blocks, painted pine wood bracketed cornice detail, and... there is so much to document and discuss. fine example of art deco style polychrome terra cotta, with application of...

an original interior cast plaster cove molding fragment salvaged from adler and sullivan's albert sullivan house (1892) is one of the first historically important bldg. 51 museum acquisitions in 2019. the double-sided plaster ornament was located in the 2nd story bedroom where louis sullivan slept when he lived in the house between 1892-1896. the plaster ornament was a recast originally used...

with the surrounding neighborhoods virtually unrecognizable, post-fire chicago two-story cottages have been on chicago’s “threatened” historic buildings list for years now. the “for sale” sign on this particular cottage quickly came and went in recent months, the green fence erected quickly thereafter. thankfully, i repeatedly documented this cottage and now gone neighboring post-fire buildings before the neighborhood was completely decimated...

images of ongoing exterior restoration work on howells and hood's trubine tower (1925), giaver and dinkelberg's jewelers building (1927) and graham, anderson, probst & white's wrigley building (1924). chicago tribune tower:   jewelers bulding: wrigley building: all images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom photography.  further reading:

richard nickel images of adler and sullivan rothschild building (1881). studying the images closely while digitizing/editing them provided further appreciation for the building and sullivan's early "edelmannesque" ornament. if you look closely, you will see images of the storefront level before and after it was covered over with modernistic stone.  since the building's demolition coincided with adler and sullivan's stock...

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.

an 1870's single-story brick workers cottage on mohawk was issued a demolition permit a few days ago. i would have documented it sooner, but was away in utah for several days. despite being painted, the cottage retains much of its character, including bracketed pine wood cornice with fret-sawn corbels, lightly incised lemont limestone window hoods, and original entrance door jamb...

awaiting death by demolition. newspaper clippings courtesy of paul woodfin.  i've been tracking coverage of the impending demolition of the south side chicago washington park bank building, designed in 1925 by architect albert schwartz. after leaving an event on the south side of chicago yesterday afternoon, i made my way over to the bank building so i could document the facade...

april 7th, 2019: a small selection of images from my photographic documentation of late 19th and early 20th century buildings (emphasis on architectural ornament as always) in and around salt lake city taken over the weekend.  when time permits, will need to retrace my steps (thankfully i take meticulous notes of each location) and assign narratives to these buildings.  historically...

  the pontiac building is the oldest skyscraper designed by holabird and roche still standing in chicago. completed in 1891, the 14-story building features some dazzling terra cotta, monogrammed hardware, and ornamental iron elevator cages (repurposed). northwestern executed the terra cotta and elevator ornament was done by winslow brothers. historically important and all original dated 1890 cast brass encased steam...