Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

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.

the bldg. 51 museum and archive recently acquired several books, catalogs, prints, ledgers, letters, and other articles of importance once belonging to the notable chicago-based architectural firm of jenney and mundie; william le baron jenney is often referred to as "father of the skyscraper". when jenney retired in 1905, mundie added a third partner - elmer jensen, who had begun working for...

2017 has been an unusually busy year for the bldg. 51 museum. we have had an accelerated increase in purchasing historically-important building artifacts for the up-and-coming second edition hardbound, full-color catalog. this will contain our most recent acquisitions since the publication of the first addition four years ago. this blog entry highlights the addition of a pair of avery coonley...

the gradual process of uncovering the multitude of undisturbed objects left behind by the congress theater tradesmen, prior to the theater's grand opening in september of 1926, has inspired me to put together a book detailing my experiences witnessing the resurrection of these long-forgotten tradesmen. by uncovering discarded items, i was provided with an insight into the goods they consumed...

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.  

late last week urban remains acquired a massive quantity of highly desirable 1940's american industrial "explosion proof" hanging ceiling-mount light fixtures once used to illuminate the interior of a sprawling midwestern munitions plant used to fabrication artillery shells for the war effort. the completely intact and fully functional fixtures were designed and fabricated by both the appleton electric company and...

i've finally made time to revisit a salvage i was involved in nearly 8 years ago- a move sparked in part by rediscovering several buried terra cotta fragments that were packed away. it all began after receiving a phone call from daniel "danny" lampa, owner of midwest wrecking, over the demolition of "an old hospital" located at 135 s. sangamon street...

the giant cavity where the gage building's north cartouche was removed from is now fully exposed. the replacement will not be installed anytime soon. i'm concerned that (at the very least) prolonged exposure to the elements could weaken mortar joints. i'm by no means a masonry expert and/or structural engineer, but the pocket where the cartouche resided, along with several...

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.

the chicago-based architectural firm of burnham and root was established in 1872 when the two men worked as apprentice draftsmen in the offices of drake, carter, and wight, building several private residences for the wealthy elite of chicago's meat industry. both of them married into wealthy families which allowed them to establish a basis for their business. burnham was known...

a single cream-colored terra cotta round and tapered fragment salvaged from the north tower of the historically important wrigley company headquarters (1921-1924) was recently donated to the bldg. 51 museum and archive earlier this week. executed by the northwestern terra cotta company, the diminutive neoclassical style fragment was apart of a larger roofline finial that was one of many sections...

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.

i approached my exploration of the patio much as i had the congress, spending most of my time in the theater’s attic, looking for any and all objects left behind by the tradesman who worked there in the winter of 1926 (this timeframe is based on the opening date of january 29, 1927, and on several fragmented newspapers found sporadically...

i was either 10 or 11 years of age when an old friend of mine would invite me to the small town of bangor, wisc., to explore what remained of the dilapidated buildings consisting of the joseph hussa brewery. brewmaster hussa constructed the primary limestone brewhouse during the mid-19th century, but shortly thereafter, he sold the brewery to frederick raasch...

in a happy chain of events, my documentation of the congress theater led to unabridged access of another historic chicago theater, once owned by the same developer. the patio theater opened in january of 1927 in the portage park neighborhood, and it remains today a moderately-sized and largely unaltered atmospheric style movie palace at the intersection of austin and irving...

a rare example of a largely intact and well-maintained gothic style victorian wood-framed cottage built shortly after the chicago fire of 1871 will be reduced to rubble this week. the two story wood-framed cottage likely was built on the site of a structure that succumbed to the fire as it was located well within the "burnt district," where the path...

i've finally made time to meticulously catalog long forgotten remnants (largely in the form of ephemera) i've collected over the years from 19th and early 20th century structures undergoing extensive renovation or demolition. discovering and recording historically important material formerly sealed off and forgotten provides a portal to the past where "snapshots" from a different time can be reconstructed and...

the bldg. 51 museum is collaborating with the chicago-based decorators supply company to make a very limited edition of faithfully recreated, full scale cast plaster proscenium vault ventilation domes, original to the interior adler & sulivan-designed auditorium theater (1889), designed by louis h. sullivan and sculpted by james legge. interestingly, christian schneider (who would go on to become one of...

aside from the usual collecting of historically important objects, i have been adding substantially to my collection of ephemera, in an effort to find primary sources that may bolster or enhance the narratives i've gathered around historically-significant architectural building elements or artifacts in the bldg. 51 museum. for example, i recently purchased several profusely illustrated letterheads, business cards, and receipts tied...

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.