Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

after keeping a watchful eye on the post-fire richard maurice birdsall cottage since the day it was handed a death sentence earlier this summer, the moment finally arrived when the wrecking machine was delivered to 1241 n. state street. less than 24 hours later, a cottage that was erected shortly after the great fire of 1871- that existed when the surrounding...

when i pulled up to the site, to document and extract park view church's time capsule, all that remained standing of this gargatuan gothic-style bedford limestone church was a portion of the exterior facade. the zettler windows had been carefully removed by us a week prior, and now the cornerstone waited patiently to be removed before all remaining sections of...

nearly a week after spending several consecutive days devoted to carefully and painstakingly extracting "munich style" art glass windows executed by f.x. zettler and drehobl brothers, i'm still incredibly exhausted and applying copious amount of tiger balm to my arms to ease the pain and calm the trembles from countless hours of using hammer and chisel. from the get go...

more to follow.  

once again i took the time to carefully extract, thoroughly clean, and reassemble the floor boards of an 1860's-era chicago cottage privy vault. the sanitary pit was covered over long ago, as indoor plumbing was becoming more readily available during the late 19th century. the house's original plumbing fittings confirm this development, being manufactured by l. wolff of chicago in the...

i was already stressed and exhausted from pulling the last of the zettler-signed "munich" style windows from the park view lutheran church's interior (1929) , when i was forced to pause for an hour as a wrecking machine nearby began pulling down the facade of the neighboring school, constructed in 1970. like the church, the school's entrance contained a cornerstone that...

previous posts have covered this historically significant 1870's-era cottage and the "death sentence" it was handed way back in summer 2016. however, the post i have been dreading all along is finally here. the wheels are now in motion, and the "kiss of death," in the form of an ominous and inescapable green fence, has been wrapped around one of...

spending an afternoon in the small and amazingly eccentric town of jerome, az., is an unforgettable experience, where portals to the past exist in an oddly suspended state, immune to change or significant alteration. this glorified "ghost town" was an ideal location for me to practice capturing these historical markers in unfamiliar territory. small elements of the architecture and landscape reveal...

for the past two weeks i've devoted nearly every afternoon methodically and painstakingly extracting any and all art glass windows from the soon-to-be-demolished gothic style park view lutheran church featuring an indiana blue limestone facade and single bell tower topped by a an unusual oversized neon light cross. completed in 1929, the church's interior is outfitted with brilliantly colored art...

two single-sided cast aluminum art deco style bas-relief panels (fabricator unknown) with highly abstract designs depicting the "transmission of sound," make an otherwise utilitarian industrial "switching office" building (completed in 1932, holabird & root, architects) a worthwhile destination for architectural and/or art deco enthusiasts to admire and document. the set of remarkably intact flush mount rectangular-shaped plaques, positioned high above the two towering black...

the imagery in this photo-essay offers a detailed look at the heavily ornamented exterior terra cotta and ironwork adorning william le baron jenney's 1888 manhattan building - known as the oldest surviving skyscraper utilizing steel skeleton frame construction. the collections of photographs might appear redundant at times, especially with multiple views of the menacing grotesques that were staring down at me from the...

driving down orchard street today i discovered an amazingly intact 19th century clapboard workers cottage surrounded by several monstrous mcmansions so ridiculously huge and devoid of character i felt equally nauseous and claustrophobic. only by focusing on the well-preserved architectural characteristics of the warm and inviting pre-fire 1860's era cottage (which is located dangerously close to the 1871 great chicago fire "burnt district," so research is...

below, are just a few examples of hundreds of fireplace mantels, coal baskets, gas inserts, and summer covers available for sale through the end of this week. any and all category items have been discounted. click here to be redirected to the sale category.

the following photo gallery offers a glimpse of the most recent artifacts salvaged and/or acquired and posted in the urban remains massive website catalog (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories). this year marks the ten year anniversary of urban remains, and from day one, one of the primary goals -- now and since 2006 -- has been to have...

i was called to examine a desolate triangular-shaped parcel of land being excavated on the near north side shortly after i completed documenting the soon-to-be demolished art deco style 1930's ornamental limestone facade concealing "buddy's parking garage" on clark street (images highlighting the exterior decorative elements will be added in an upcoming blog post). when i arrived the excavator had made significant progress, with...

another well-maintained 19th century brick workers cottage, boasting an interior that had been unaltered since the depression, was ripped apart in a matter of hours earlier this week. the two-story brick cottage, bedecked with a bracketed wood cornice, deeply incised window hoods or headers, and the original double pine wood paneled doors with original jamb, was built in 1885 during the height of chicago's...

the noble square neighborhood "cornerstore" facing demolition began as a single story brick workers cottage, likely constructed in the latter half of the 1870's. through time the back section of the structure remained residential, while the front underwent dramatic reconstruction, including removal of the majority of the facade.     the new entrance, likely fabricated by the milwaukee artistic metal ceiling...

visiting la crosse, wisc. this past week was incredibly therapeutic - effectively reducing levels of stress and anxiety that were becoming overly toxic and depleting me of the energy necessary to wake each morning prepared to document the never-ending building deaths throughout chicago. i've admired this little worker's cottage for over 20 years. not only does it include the date of...

the following compilation of images were taken from various chicago excavations - both commercial and residential over the past few weeks.  the wide range of objects or artifacts recovered (and in many cases documented in the studio) include 19th century wood "pilings" once supporting a building demolished long ago, to light bulbs, bottles, and a completely intact privy pit or...