Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

with cook county hospital's facade - comprised mainly of ornamental terra cotta - now scrubbed clean, scaffolding is being erected to being the arduous task of repairing and replacing the massive facade's damaged elements. in addition to addressing the building's existing terra cotta, the restoration will involve the replacement of most original windows, brick tuck-pointing, repair and/or replacement of the...

with some "downtime" (whatever that means) this evening, i decided to slowly begin processing the enormous mountain of data generated from the seemingly unending residential demolitions that happened back in april. it should be no surprise that nearly every blog post lately mentions my ongoing battle with time, and accordingly i rely on photography to at least bolster the visual record on the...

this post briefly touches upon a meticulously recreated adler and sullivan garrick theater (1891) hand-painted stenciled canvas section - mainly through images taken at the time it was discovered and/or recovered when adler and sullivan's garrick theater (1891) was undergoing demolition.  during the schiller building's demolition in 1961, richard nickel, john vinci, and david norris removed sections of the auditorium'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 40,000 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.

while working at the ryerson and burnham archives the other day, i stumbled across several folders containing silver gelatin prints documenting the construction of cook county hospital from beginning to end. i quickly realized , this set of prints haven't been circulated in the public domain since the time they were taken (1912-1913), so i'm pleased these have been digitized and...

although sullivan and adler's auditorium building (1889) has been documented time and again in previous bldg. 51 blog posts, i have yet to present a collection of historic images and artifacts from the building in a single entry. the following images and artifacts were obtained from various channels, including the ryerson an burnham library, bldg. 51 museum collection, and tim...

day-to-day garrick theater (adler & sullivan, 1892) salvage activity as recorded by richard nickel. i only selected five days of notes, but feel compelled to do more, with additional images reflecting the work described by nickel.  FRIDAY MAY 12, 1960: SATURDAY MAY 13, 1960: SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1960:   SUNDAY MAY 14, 1960:         MONDAY MAY 15TH...

i've taken nearly four thousand images of cook county hospital's facade restoration in a matter of 4-5 weeks time. the following 100+ images provide a "timeline" of the building's facade undergoing restoration work, largely in the form of cleaning the facade from grime and/or air  pollutants accumulated since its last cleaning in 1953. the hotel was completed in 1913. 8-23-2018...

  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 45,000 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. 

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 majority of the buildings enjoy landmark status, while others are relatively unknown, but are dressed with highly stylized architectural ornament executed in a variety of mediums, including...

yet another largely intact late 19th century chicago two-flat with incised joliet limestone window hoods is undergoing demolition. the roof and railings had been ripped off when i arrived.  after leaving the defaced house, i drove about a mile away to document a former synagogue (completed in 1902) that was issued a demolition permit earlier this week.  Congregation Beth El...

several boxes filled with late 19th and early 20th century antique american elevator signs and artifacts collected by an elevator serviceman while working on historically important buildings from new york city to philadelphia arrived at urban remains last week. the collection includes seldom found signage and mechanical objects executed by or for several elevator companies located in chicago, philadelphia, and...

  8:23-2018: photographing the restoration of cook county hospital's terra cotta and limestone facade is a welcome change from documenting/salvaging chicago buildings undergoing demolition. i hope to record this transformation for months to come - from beginning to end.   8-27-2018: after returning from a brief trip, i made my way over to cook county hospital (1913-14) to continue documenting...

exterior terra cotta restoration work is drawing to a close on downtown chicago's 40-story jewelers building (later known as the pure oil building). the southwest turret - one of four used to conceal water tanks for fire suppression - is the last remaining turret completely shrouded for repair work.    thousands of cream-colored terra cotta have been repaired or replaced...

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 40,000 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.

i finally made time to digitize these richard nickel images of adler & sullivan’s jewelers building (1881-2) upper floors. unfortunately, the original sullivan-designed interior solid oak wood staircase railing was ripped out in 1960, but thankfully it was rescued by charles gregerson (and possibly nickel), where it was stored for a time in weese’s office (see images).  the salvaged oak...

day one: restoration of the beaux-arts style cook county hospital facade, comprised of limestone, brick, and terra cotta, is well underway. the partially demolished hospital (i.e., rear wings and powerhouse in 2010) was completed in 1913-14 with paul gerhardt as architect (served as cook county architect from 1910 to 1913).    i included images where portions of the facade have...

exterior restoration work has begun on howells and hood's 1925 tribune tower. several carefully stacked and labeled indiana limestone panels were removed from south facade for mast climber's anchor points. the gothic revival's limestone facade was executed by the indiana limestone company, bedford, ind. like the 1928 jewelers building, i will be watching tribune tower closely this fall as repairs are made...

another year of new residential development has once again left us to mourn the loss of hundreds of 19th and early 20th century house casualties leaving in its wake a quickly eroding historic fabric that has given chicago's neighborhoods visual character, identity, and a seemingly unbreakable link to the past. while i may feel tied down by discouragement and defeat...

a rare artifact deserving highlight in the urban remains warehouse is a turn of the century cast bronze plaque designed by edward kemeys and executed by the winslow brothers. the single-sided metalwork depicts the cheyenne diplomat and warrior "chief left hand," remembered for his attempts to negotiate his people's survival during the onslaught of gold rush settlers to colorado. left...