Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

Antique American Architectural Artifacts

  1. remnants of a newly discovered garrick theater graveyard on display

    remnants of a newly discovered garrick theater graveyard on display
    a friend invited me over to a warehouse where crates of terra cotta from the garrick theater, scoville factory, and rosenfeld flats have been in storage for several years. when i arrived, all of of the ornament was on display on the floor, arranged as partially complete building facade jigsaw puzzles. it reminded me of images i'd seen of the...
  2. showcasing ornament through a northwestern terra cotta company executive's residence

    showcasing ornament through a northwestern terra cotta company executive's residence
    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 premier material for detailing commercial structures, especially the new...
  3. returning to avalon to further record theater's moorish style polychromed ornament

    returning to avalon to further record theater's moorish style polychromed ornament
    during my second visit to chicago's atmospheric avalon theater, i spent the first few hours documenting any and all of the exterior terra cotta, primarily from the rooftop. the images below provide the viewer with the multitude of design motifs employed by eberson, along the polychromatic glazed finish (the terra cotta was executed by the american terra cotta company, chicago...
  4. visiting merchants national bank, foshay tower, masonic temple, grain exchange, and purcell-cutts house during single day road trip

    visiting merchants national bank, foshay tower, masonic temple, grain exchange, and purcell-cutts house during single day road trip
    the following images were taken during a recent road trip where i manged to briefly stop in winona, red wing, and minneapolis over the course of an afternoon. a sizable chunk of tiime was devoted to photodocumeting the interior and exterior ornament of purcell, feick, and elmslie's merchants bank building (1912), located in downtown winona, minnesota. the exceptional sullivanesque ornamentation...
  5. nearly year later, west side chicago italianate style lemont limestone flats succumb to wrecking ball

    nearly year later, west side chicago italianate style lemont limestone flats succumb to wrecking ball
    last week, a group of post-fire three-story italianate style flats finally surrendered to the wrecking ball. a blog post from late last year sounded the alarm, triggered by a proposal to replace the 1870's lemont limestone flats with more of the same dull, bland, and boring residential condos that have been permeating neighborhoods across chicago for years. i was hoping...
  6. documenting chicago movie palaces remains a top priority for 2017

    documenting chicago movie palaces remains a top priority for 2017
    for several years now, i've wanted to document chicago's congress theater (1927). the opportunity finally arrived at the beginning of 2017, when a production company and the theater's developers signed off on a contract, allowing me unabridged access to explore both the interior and exterior, while being chased around by a group of cameraman and sound guys. several months later...
  7. highlights from the soon-to-be published "unearthing chicago" bldg. 51 museum book

    highlights from the soon-to-be published "unearthing chicago" bldg. 51 museum book
    the following photographs (and collages) were taken from more than 546 folders containing over 9,800 images of jobsites and salvage work "in the field," as well as unearthed artifacts cleaned and assembled in my studio afterward. all of my urban excavation began two years ago, after the discovery of a single william h. hutchinson (whh) cobalt blue soda bottle at...
  8. rare albumen print captures adler & sullivan's auditorium building with iconic tower under construction

    rare albumen print captures adler & sullivan's auditorium building with iconic tower under construction
    dated (february 2, 1889) albumen photographic print of adler and sullivan's auditorium building under construction. note the tower beginning to rise, along with the piles of common building brick in the foreground. the building was competed the same year. adler and sullivan retained offices in the tower's 16th and 17th floors until 1895 when the they dissolved their association...
  9. daniel h. burnham's fisher building interior lobby original elevator doors executed by winslow brothers

    daniel h. burnham's fisher building interior lobby original elevator doors executed by winslow brothers
    "to appreciate the fisher building one has to see it in the late afternoon of a winter day. the fading daylight softens the redundant ornament detail; the lighting within transforms the wall into a glittering and transparent sheath crossed by thin horizontal and vertical lines" -carl condit, architectural historian continuing to highlight historically important ironwork in the bldg. 51 collection...
  10. art deco slip shade fixtures, vintage examination room furniture, palmolive building elevator indicators, majolica tiles, and figural brownstone rondels

    art deco slip shade fixtures, vintage examination room furniture, palmolive building elevator indicators, majolica tiles, and figural brownstone rondels
    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 26,500 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.  
  11. ornamental terra cotta panel from rapp & rapp's southtown non-extant theater joins bldg. 51 museum american building artifact collection

    ornamental terra cotta panel from rapp & rapp's southtown non-extant theater joins bldg. 51 museum american building artifact collection
    the building 51 museum and archive recently acquired an all original and historically important heavily ornamented terra cotta panel rescued from rapp and rapp's southtown theater during its unfortunate demolition in 1991. the single-sided polychromed exterior theater panel features foliated scrollwork with centrually located petalled flower. the terra cotta block consists of a two-tone glaze, with the raised ornament finished...
  12. bldg. 51 museum acquires "lost" records of architectural firm graven and mayger

    bldg. 51 museum acquires "lost" records of architectural firm graven and mayger
    the bldg. 51 museum recently secured another important archive, containing previously undocumented materials belonging to the short-lived notable chicago-based architectural firm of graven and mayger. the drawings, ledgers, blueprints, photographs, and paperwork last belonged to edward rupinksi, who worked as a draftsman for the firm.  a portion of the archive contains material from the prestigious firm of rapp and rapp...
  13. putting louis h. sullivan's gage building (1898) terra cotta facade back together again

    putting louis h. sullivan's gage building (1898) terra cotta facade back together again
    i made a point to stop by the gage building the other day, while i was in the neighborhood doing a systematic photo shoot of the s.a. maxwell lofts building's exterior ornament from sidewalk to roofline (1881, dankmark adler & louis h. sullivan, architects). when i made my way to gage, i noticed that the empty cavity above the building's...
  14. what tradesmen left behind in the attic of john eberson's 1927 persian atmospheric regal theater

    what tradesmen left behind in the attic of john eberson's 1927 persian atmospheric regal theater
      i began documenting john eberson's atmospheric avalon theater (1927) early last week, and many additional visits lie on the horizon. aside from embarking on the creation of a visual record of the theater's interior and exterior ornament, i managed to spend time in the attic. there i found several mazda light bulb boxes, piled high around the electric "stars...
  15. ephemera, photographs, drawings, and books from the architectural offices of jenney & mundie acquired by bldg. 51 museum

    ephemera, photographs, drawings, and books from the architectural offices of jenney & mundie acquired by bldg. 51 museum
    the following images offer a glimpse at a sizable jenney & mundie archive containing architectural records previously believed to have been lost or destroyed. the archive -which is by no means comprehensive - was acquired by the bldg. 51 museum collection in july of 2017. we are currently working to digitize it, for unabridged access to researchers and/or scholars alike...
  16. forgotten ornament from adler & sullivan's s.a. commercial loft building joins bldg. 51 museum collection

    forgotten ornament from adler & sullivan's s.a. commercial loft building joins bldg. 51 museum collection
    the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired a group of diminutive first floor exterior column ornament removed (along with the columns) during the 1950's when adler & sullivan's s.a. maxwell building (1882) underwent extensive alterations (interior and exterior) that obliterated most of the street level ornament. thankfully, richard nickel was present to document the changes and/or removal of ornament, including the...
  17. wide array of old signage, salesman samples, 19th century east coast soda bottles, faries lighting, and builders' hardware

    wide array of old signage, salesman samples, 19th century east coast soda bottles, faries lighting, and builders' hardware
    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. the newly acquired items have been documented, cleaned/refinished (if need be) and photographed prior to being added to their respective website categories.  
  18. photographic study of post-fire italianate row house interior element extraction

    photographic study of post-fire italianate row house interior element extraction
    in a previous post, i devoted a considerable amount of time to sharing both images and informational notes regarding the careful and systematic extraction of a post-fire chicago italianate row house interior staircase, comprised largely of walnut wood. the inspiration to focus solely on the structure's staircase was drawn from a book i had been studying at the time, entitled...
  19. a photographic study of historic commercial building ornament in la crosse, wisc.

    a photographic study of historic commercial building ornament in la crosse, wisc.
    a photographic study of selected 19th and early 20th century la crosse (wisconsin) commercial building exterior ornaments.  additional information on building history (e.g., architect, build date, material identification, etc.) will be added to each photo as time permits. the extant buildings shown below were chosen for inclusion based upon subjective interests and time commitment required to thoroughly document additional buildings...
  20. documenting cicero's historic olympic theater (1927) cut short by heat exhaustion.

    documenting cicero's historic olympic theater (1927) cut short by heat exhaustion.
    i moved quickly to document any and all ornament adorning the lobby and auditorium of the 1927 olympic hotel, formerly known as the sokol slavsky building. Most of it had remained original and largely unaltered since time of construction, and i was preparing to commit the remainder of the afternoon to exploring the theater's remaining untouched nooks and crannies. hopefully...

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