Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

the monumental plaster female statue recently housed in off-site storage, has recently made another move, this time to be in a more secluded, climate-controlled space along with the rest of the bldg. 51 collection. thankfully it is solidly-built, with complete structural integrity to withstand relocation. longtime customers might recognize the statue as having greeted visitors to our former showroom. this incredible...

every once in a while i feel uninspired, saturated with mixed emotions that lead to exaggerated negativity and seemingly unstoppable rumination on being "stuck." this becomes hugely counter-productive within the world of urban remains, where at times i'm subject to mundane tasks that any business owner is familiar with, to some degree or another. instead of retreating into the depths of this darkness, i have...

the daniel a. jones building, built as a wing of the presbyterian hospital complex in 1888, is slowly being erased from chicago's urban landscape, but i believe there is hope - in the form of a heavy duty onsite "cherry picker." this machine, with its extensive boom, will likely be used as the primary work platform for extracting any and all ornament (e.g., red...

today marks the 44th anniversary of richard nickel's death, when the world lost a formidable preservationist and photographer. nickel died following his passion, in the collapse of the chicago stock exchange building as he salvaged architectural ornament. in memory of his life and work there will be an event at the robie house this afternoon with architect john vinci and cultural historian tim...

this early nondescript cottage located on chestnut resembled somewhat the non-extant john kent russell house, especially in that its age and alterations made it into a richly complex case study, and one that i managed to thoroughly document before and during its demolition. like the russell house, the cottage contained a rear addition (or possibly another cottage moved to and adjoined to...

it seems an appropriate follow-up to a recent san francisco visit to write about having dug a cable or street car artifact near illinois and franklin street which will soon enter the bldg. 51 collection. the finding of the railway component coincides, ironically, with having bought greg borzo's publication "chicago cable cars" during my vacation in the bay. his research provided...

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...

  a three-story early 20th century yellow brick apartment complex, located in the wrigleyville neighborhood of chicago was demolished late last week. thankfully we had a few weeks to prepare and thoroughly salvage architectural elements from the building's interior.   the majority of the passage and closet doors were comprised of darkly varnished birch with two recessed panels. a combination...

the painted ladies are a historic attraction in the bay, but i was nonetheless thrilled to peruse for myself the sloping row of colorful queen anne style residences in alamo square park and throughout the city. these victorian and edwardian style houses are generally 2-3 stories, featuring multiple balconies, large porches, and most notably -- bright multi-colored facades accentuating architectural detail (termed "painted ladies" for...

for several weeks now i've continued to make my way over to the northeast corner of state and huron to monitor the agonizingly slow death of 8 east huron, which remains standing, despite the loss of its "coach house" and adjoining neighbor to the west - 4 east huron. sadly, the partially demolished structure stands as a constant reminder of the continued...

among the rare light fixtures housed in the urban remains collection is an early 1920's "arctype"auditorium spotlight lamp, an original fixture which represents lighting technology developed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which was replaced by the incandescent spotlight. the carbon arc lamp was the first widely-used type of electric lighting and commercially successful form of electric lamp; it was first used...

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...

an exceptional and historically important hammered wrought iron railing section, executed by "the tiffany of wrought iron masters" is the latest of the bldg. 51 museum collection's recent acquisitions. the heavily ornamented, strapped and riveted wrought iron artifact was crafted by milwaukee's historic and premier iron worker, cyril colnik, for a non-extant mansion on wisconsin avenue. colnik's work was mentioned previously, in a blog post...

the extant historically important rookery building (1888), one of burnham & root's top architectural masterpieces, has undergone three major renovations and/or restorations over the last century, whereby several exceptional artifacts were removed and made available through both public and private acquisition. a small assortment of these artifacts have been added to the the bldg. 51 museum collection over the past several years. the artifacts...

four years ago, curbed chicago listed the church at 1300 north artesian avenue as a "juicy development prospect" awaiting residential conversion. the listing cited its windows and woodwork as appealing features; it has since been drastically reduced in price. the semi-abandoned church still stands, no demolition or conversion underway yet, though the interior is largely gutted, with bricked-in windows and...

the little cottage "frozen in time" was located just around the corner from the old bottling factory, incidentally, the building where urban remains was first established back in 2006. a spattering of other 19th century residential structures were left standing in and around this industrial corridor, populated mostly with a collection of massive brick warehouses constructed after 1900. the delicate...

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...

early in the morning i received notice that a late 19th century two-story graystone was handed a death sentence. after reviewing images of the facade, i was drawn to the matching leaded beveled glass transom windows and roofline ornament consisting of cast iron cresting or "window's walk" and an oversized ornamented tin ball-topped finial resting atop the towering three-sided turret...

i'm equally surprised and pleased at the sheer number and vast assortment of significant architectural artifacts acquired and/or rediscovered in storage since the beginning of 2016. whether a single sullivan-designed guaranty building doorknob, or a one-of-a-kind hand-stitched nortown theater organ screen fish embellished with sequins, i've been aggressively combing through the warehouse pallet racks and chasing historically important artifacts removed from...

on the "deconstructing chicago" front, my interest is in demystifying the incredibly complicated methods and materials used during the span of time from 1840-1880, when evolving technologies, as well as supply and demand for material, continually wavered from one building season to the next. the case study explored in this post involves two nearly identical wood-framed workers cottages constructed and/or moved to a...