Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago  i was notified the other day that the ingleside community church of the nazarene (1905) located at the corner of 72nd and ingleside will be wrecked in the coming weeks. naturally, i struggled with internal resistance since i had to abruptly abandon prior engagements in order meet with the wrecker, document the building...

the following images (see below) represent a small selection of bldg. 51 museum architectural fragments acquired during 2017. the museum collection continues to revolve around chicago artifacts, with a greater emphasis placed on commercial buildings designed by notable architectural firms (e.g., burnham & root, jenney & mundie, holabird & roche, adler & sullivan, and so on.). ornament from chicago movie...

all original c. 1920's antique american ornamental cast iron interior oriental theater auditorium chair or seat end, fabricated by the heywood-wakefield company, menominee, mich. the highly ornamented single-sided cast iron figural cover seat end was salvaged from the auditorium when the seating arrangement was reconfigured during restoration in the 1990's. the theater seat ends contains a detachable cover plate originally...

next year i will force myself to set time aside and digitize my entire reference library containing 19th century architectural trade journals, company catalogs, salesman samples, booklets, brochures, etc.  for example, after rediscovering an early 20th century binder, containing double-sided plates with wood samples in a variety of finishes (i was convinced it was lost), i thought about how useful this...

spending a great deal of time documenting chicago's architectural ornament in 2017 was a great form of therapy and/or distraction from documenting the death of buildings and the cityscape they reside in. i hope this process continues in 2018, perhaps with greater momentum and strategy. i small collection of photographic images taken last year are presented below. if time permits, i...

the first chinese arrived in chicago after 1869, shortly after the first transcontinental railroad was completed. by the late 19th century, a quarter of chicago's approximately six hundred chinese residents settled just south of downtown along clark street between van buren and harrison streets. in 1889, sixteen chinese-owned businesses were located along the two-block stretch, including eight grocery stores, two butcher shops, and a...

it's become impossible to resist my maniacal desire to photograph chicago's cityscape, and that's a good thing. i'm a terribly anxious person in the present, so i counter that by living in the past. in some unexplainable way, i feel i belong there. it's no surprise that my mind'e eye naturally gravitates towards chicago's past, especially when viewed through the...

  the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired a historically important collection containing hundreds of 1871 chicago fire insurance claims, letters, city permits, flyers, and advertisements revolving around the dry good merchants, bowen, winslow, and hunt.  countless hours have been spent sorting through and digitizing piles of ephemera that offer remarkable insight into the conflagration and its aftermath as seen through...

a look back at 2017, beginning with a summation of 2016 and ending with the publication of "lost and found." the links to 43 out of 450 blog entries posted in 2017 are listed below.  https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/12/26/lost-and-found-a-bldg-51-publication-is-now-available-for-sale/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/12/20/demolished-james-higgie-building-lives-on-through-salvaged-ornament-and-images/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/11/30/3-days-in-nyc-documenting-historic-architecture-and-preservation-efforts/   https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/10/19/documenting-restoration-of-chicagos-historic-buildings-this-fall/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/09/30/chicago-fragments-from-john-vincis-past/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/09/27/installation-of-gage-buildings-recreated-terra-cotta-cartouche-completed/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/09/23/louis-h-sullivans-farmers-and-merchants-union-bank-1919-in-photographs/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/08/28/tradesmans-beer-bottle-discovered-in-the-wall-of-a-19th-century-chicago-cottage-undergoing-demolition/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/08/24/2017-the-year-of-documenting-downtown-chicagos-19th-early-20th-century-architectural-ornament-at-feverish-pace/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/08/17/minnesota-roadtrip-merchants-national-bank-foshay-tower-masonic-temple-and-beyond/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/08/16/documenting-historic-chicago-movie-palaces-remains-top-priority-for-2017/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/08/04/bldg-51-museum-acquires-lost-records-of-architectural-firm-graven-and-mayger/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/07/31/vast-assortment-of-ephemera-photographs-drawings-and-books-from-the-architectural-offices-of-jenney-mundie-acquired-by-bldg-51-museum/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/07/18/documenting-a-post-fire-chicago-italianate-row-house-staircase-during-its-deconstruction/ 17/a-photographic-study-of-historic-commercial-building-ornament-in-la-crosse-wisc/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/07/07/high-noon-entertainment-collaborating-with-eric-j-nordstrom-on-documenting-the-death-of-buildings/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/06/29/documenting-a-post-fire-chicago-row-house-where-time-stood-still/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/06/29/a-closer-look-at-george-frears-patented-pre-chicago-fire-artificial-italianate-row-house-keystones/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/06/21/nortown-theater-taught-me-how-to-thoroughly-document-and-deconstruct/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/06/08/the-frank-lloyd-wright-windows-of-the-bldg-51-architectural-artifact-museum/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/05/25/photographic-study-of-19th-century-objects-discovered-in-stud-cavity-of-post-fire-chicago-cottage-during-its-demolition/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/05/25/bldg-51-museum-collaborates-with-decorators-supply-company-in-making-limited-run-of-recast-auditorium-theater-proscenium-vault-ventilation-domes/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/05/22/gage-building-facade-restoration-leads-to-boston-valley-terra-cotta-company-visit/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/05/16/the-chicago-terra-cotta-company-and-william-lebaron-jenneys-starkweather-building/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/05/15/a-very-special-artifact-salvaged-by-richard-nickel-offers-inspiration-and-motivation-to-carry-on/ https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2017/05/10/behind-the-lovers-playground-a-frank-lloyd-wright-designed-architectural-detail-that-survived-the-wrecking-ball...

the following 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 30,000 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.

by eric j. nordstrom and ornament chicago  By the 1940s onward  the J.L. Higgie building had begun a protracted period of what could be considered gradual decline.  In this postcard from the 1940s one notes the classic bell shaped roofs from the earlier 1920s photo are now missing, and by the time of the black and white photo circa 1946...

ogen avenue facade with terra cotta name plaque in place.   by Eric J. Nordstrom and Ornament Chicago: As another exhausting week continues additional details of the family behind the curious wedge-shaped J. L. Higgie building continue to emerge.    After some more research it was discovered that James Lyle Higgie sired nine children, of which five were sons. ...

after a much-needed break from the bowels of congress theater, i spent the remainder of my time there traversing the auditorium's upper balcony plenum chambers hoping to discover more objects discarded by moviegoers beginning around the time the theater opened in 1926. thankfully, i was in a very relaxed state of mind and used it to my advantage. i was...

an extensive photographic record of congress theater's basement level mechanical equipment was completed late last week. the utilization of multiple camera lenses was required to accurately capture both surface details and systems found throughout the subterranean space, located directly beneath the lobby floor. additionally, images were taken using the theater basement's existing lighting - for better or for worse...

a largely intact circular pine wood privy pit or "vault" floor was discovered during excavation of a site where a pre-fire chicago residence succumbed to the wrecking ball. i was busy documenting the sill plate configuration of a nearby wood frame house when i got wind that this (see below) brick cottage had been reduced to rubble.   the floor was...

ann pinegar halsted was the sole executrix of henry s. halsted's legacy, and as she took over the reins of his water vessel business, she decided to change her living situation. in 1883 she began discussions with new architectural partners dankmar adler and louis sullivan about building a house on a piece of property she owned on belden avenue near...

day 1: the 37-story carbon and carbide building (1929) appears to be undergoing facade restoration. i did notice cavities covered over with plywood - mainly along the east facade. i was a bit rushed, so will have to revisit and document facade more thoroughly. day 2: terra cotta panels are slowly being plucked from the facade of chicago's beloved art...

a late 19th or early 20th century chicago tugboat. facing its impending destruction, the wedge-shaped j.l. higgie building has piqued my interests; perhaps moreso because of the lack of information out there surrounding the building itself, and the plethora of accolades following mr. higgie and his illustrious career. relatively famed in the maritime circuit, captain james l. higgie was...

a closer look at window hood ornament found on the italianate style facades of the "lake-franklin group" of post-fire buildings constructed shortly after the great chicago fire. the quartet represents the largest concentration of post-fire commercial buildings in the loop. burling and adler designed two of the buildings.

c. 1910 northwestern terra cotta company catalog cover. the northwestern terra cotta company was founded in chicago in 1877 by a group of investors that included john r. true. the company became a major producer of terra cotta trimmings used by the construction industry. by the beginning of the 20th century, architectural terra cotta was firmly established as america's...