Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

research continues on a marvelous brick mansion that is in the process of being converted into a pre-school. the structure envelops two city lots, and appears to have been built around 1887.     to accommodate the needs of the developers and satisfy building codes, the interior has been subject to alteration. unfortunately this means the original hand-carved oak staircase...

a wide array of american architectural, medical, and industrial artifacts and/or objects have been steadily added to the massive urban remains virtual catalog for a few weeks now. with the completion of a gold coast mansion salvage earlier this week, we have been working long hours to document, clean and photograph several exceptional interior elements that will be highlighted in a...

in a previous blog entry i focused on a highly unusual depression-era mayan revival fisher theater seat end - one of several non-chicago based artifacts housed in the bldg. 51 museum collection catalog. the richly colored all original theater seat end reflects late 1920's exotic movie palace architecture in the mid-west, and as an object designed for chicago architects anker graven and...

detail of built-up molding on pine wood exterior door. the entry and any and all images first published on may 26th, 2016. 1886 sanborn insurance map with red arrow indicating location of the superior street italianate. note: the extant coach house wasn't built yet.           th when last year, i read dnainfo's story on the...

while looking for a hopkins and dickenson doorknob the other day, i ran across several boxes of "personal collection" 19th century builders' hardware i've had stowed away for years. when i pull the lid from the first container, i immediately recognized doorknobs from the william k. vanderbilt mansion (known as the "eagle's nest) and rare bronze doorknobs from louis h...

when companies are contracted by the city to demolish and replace structurally unsound vaulted sidewalks, their saw-cutting methods typically go beyond the curb and well into the street. the work continues with subsequent digging in and around the street, involving the removal of several inches of asphalt followed by older concrete and finally, well-preserved 19th or early 20th century fired...

the studs and sheathing along the north wall are severely compromised and will need to be replaced. with the exception of the facade, the cottage's framing will no doubt be largely replaced, including the interlocking sill plates. additionally, i would be curious to know if any of the original interior millwork (e.g., casings, doors, staircase newel and spindles) was...

several "after sunset" fixtures were removed from an art modern house undergoing renovations late last week. the american art deco depression era fixtures were designed and fabricated by or for the lightolier corp., jeannette, pennsylvania. the super streamlined machine age electric fixtures are comprised largely of yellow brass with highly polished chrome-plated finishes. the futuristic or "jetsonesque" fixtures contain maroon enameled...

there really is no beginning or end to the surreal story of my crew and i being paid to completely deconstruct the historically important and visually stunning main lobby of the "850 lsd" or the lakeshore drive athletic club building. we were hired on to extract a collection of ornamentation that would later be reintegrated, after the building was gutted and subsequently renovated. at the...

i've spent a great deal of time in the congress theater attic space, a place where time seems to stand still. in the upper canopy of the building i find a rare quiet and peace, and often find myself overwhelmed with a sense of calm where I can heighten my awareness of the environment as i navigate with my head...

Trash Talks: The Afterlives of Buildings Saturday, April 8, 2017 - 1:00pm–5:00pm LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave Chicago, IL Spring 17 Mitchell Lecture Series Trash Talks hopes to provide an alternative platform for a series of open conversations between artists, designers and thinkers in search for a more optimistic dialogue around the creative potential of architectural refuse. Participants...

after slowing down some, i find myself deeply immersed again in the "unearthing chicago" project long after i finished cataloging several extensively archived chicago dig sites for the soon-to be-published "unearthing chicago" book (bldg. 51 museum press) due out this year. like any other project i've worked on, it's hard to turn away when opportunities arise to collect more data...

over the past few years i've been tirelessly documenting and/or salvaging chicago's 19th century brick and wood-frame cottages as they're demolished with astonishing rapidity. it's deeply saddening just thinking about the seemingly endless number of demolition permits that will be issued during this year's (2017) "building season," which has already begun gaining momentum as the ground thaws with spring around the corner...

the chicago athletic association (caa) was established in 1890 by notable chicago businessmen, marshall field, cyrus mccormick, and a. g. spalding as an exclusive club revolving around sports, business and social activities. in 1893 the club commissioned architect henry ives cobb to construct a venitian gothic style hotel completed shortly before the chicago world's fair. since the club's inception, their...

the bldg. 51 museum has recently assembled several architectural artifacts from buildings (demolished or heavily altered/modified) designed by henry ives cobb for an upcoming exhibit highlighting his work. an exceptionally well-made and intricately designed late 19th or early 20th century american gothic style interior ornamental cast bronze wall-mount drinking fountain, salvaged long ago from the university of chicago's cobb hall...

i was taken aback when i discovered a seemingly endless field of debris (several decades worth) covering the floor of a gargantuan plenum duct running under the congress theater's auditorium floor. i spent a good deal of time combing through piles of candy wrappers, matchbooks, ticket stubs, and popcorn boxes, but when the pain from crouching for nearly an hour...

a recently discovered cache of 1890's refuse, in the form of everyday household bottles, jars, shoes, stoneware (i.e. impermeable and partly vitrified pottery), flint glass, ink wells, etc., was unearthed the other day during excavation of a residential lot where a house built around 1890 was demolished months earlier. late 19th century chicago beer bottle fragment with stunning benicia iridescence...

the relentless search to aquire, identify, and document historically important remnants from chicago building demolished or altered has greatly assisted in driving the bldg. 51 museum collection and archive's sustained momentum and/or growth in the new year. while the museum's core mission remains sharply focused on chicago-related architectural artifacts bearing historical significance, the sizable collection of historic building materials (e.g., studs...

the bldg. 51 museum recently acquired an exceptional, copper-plated ornamental figural cast iron elevator panel and full-bodied eagle (the latter is an attribution) rescued from henry ives cobb's downtown chicago chicago federal building (1898), prior to its demolition in 1965. the single-sided eagle panel was originally apart of an elevator door bedecked with neoclassical design motifs. the three-dimensional figural finial is comprised...

a vast collection of 19th century exterior dearborn foundry newel posts, tuttle & bailey floor registers, and miscellaneous ornamental ironwork hand-crafted by f.p. smith was recently acquired by urban remains earlier this week. the american victorian-era interior and exterior residential ironwork was salvaged from demolished cottages, italianates, and greystones across chicago over the past twenty years. the following group of...