Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

urban remains recently acquired several matching american industrial depression-era wall-mount oversized air hose reels or "aireels" salvaged from the notable chicago-based a. finkl & sons foundry undergoing demolition. nearly twenty air hose reels were found in various outbuildings scattered around the foundry complex. the wall-mount "aireel" was designed and fabricated by the appleton electric company, chicago, il. the fully functional reel...

every now and then i visit the chicago history museum for inspiration when it comes time to begin work on a book, create an exhibition at the bldg. 51 museum or prepare for a lecture on any and all topics relating to 19th century chicago architecture. the museum's architectural exhibit (see featured image) on the firm of sullivan and adler is...

Steve Johnson CHICAGO TRIBUNEsajohnson​@chicagotribune.com Nathan Leopold's eyeglasses, eyewitness to an infamous murder — and evidence of it. Ann Landers' typewriter, conduit for common-sense advice. Booth One at the Pump Room, marker of status and coddler of scores of celebrity posteriors. The terrific new exhibition "The Secret Lives of Objects" at the Chicago History Museum demonstrates once again how fruitful it...

aside from operating urban remains, a museum and galley, and documenting and salvaging historic structures, i managed to make time here and there for over a year now, devoted to creating and ultimately self-publishing the BLDG. 51 "museum book," which was delivered to me the other day on a pallet. i felt a great sense of relief and closure after seeing...

i've been aggressively acquiring architectural artifacts and industrial furniture for most of march, while i patiently await to begin work on two important salvages beginning this spring. i was fortunate and pleasantly surprised that a decent number of important artifacts essentially fell into my lap the other saturday, making for exciting and fruitful assemblage that merited its own post. featured artifacts...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 22,600 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in...

my team and i just completed salvaging a multi-story early 20th century chicago residential masonry building with protruding ornamented tin bay window integrated with a cornice topped with opposed pier caps and voluted roofline ornament. the majority of the building's interior underwent several tasteless renovations during its lifespan, so at first glance, we didn't hold much hope in securing anything worthwhile in...

i've been told time and again that my efforts to meticulously document 19th chicago building methods and materials is "pioneering" work that is, or will be appreciated by researchers, historians, architects, homeowners, etc. in the future. however, that might be a polite way of saying it isn't terribly important or perhaps, something most researchers would gloss over - at least at this level of detail...

with an extended break from the architectural salvage front, urban remains pushed further into the realm of "industrial" late last week by obtaining a nice assortment of industrial furniture from a recently shuttered factory that specialized in the fabrication of aeronautics parts. the gallery below represents some of the salvaged furniture pieces that have been completely refinished and/or repurposed. most...

the other day i was looking over some of the sentimental items in one my storage rooms and i happened across a gargantuan hand-painted pine wood "stick" or gauge that was once affixed to one of three enclosed riveted joint iron reservoirs housed in the tower of the non-extant prairie school style bunte candy factory constructed in 1919. nearly 8 years ago...

shortly after the pre-fire german school building salvage concluded last weekend, we shifted gears and revisited "industrial," by exploring factories, machine shops and warehouses in the chicago area this week to replenish and/or build upon our existing supply of furniture and lighting found in that type of setting. a matching lot of "uhl art steel" side chairs were found in...

the assemblage of wood boards represent a mostly intact mid-19th century early chicago residential "privy vault" pine wood floor that was likely constructed by j.k. russell & company, chicago, il.   the defunct outhouse privy hole or "vault" floor was discovered on the john kent russell house lot, where a garage, constructed in the 1920's protected it for decades. in...

we just salvaged two heavily ornamented cast iron flanking mullion or pilaster endcaps from a victorian era red brick and limestone three-flat combination commercial/residential building shortly before it was brought down by the wrecking ball. the square-shaped single-sided endcaps or "plate guards" were the two most distinctive components of a completely intact and largely unaltered cast iron facade "system" that was likely...

the photo gallery below offers a glimpse of some of the newest artifacts recently acquired from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 22, 500 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed...

with the exception of the building itself, the only remaining exterior architectural ornament left undisturbed on the historically important augustus bauer-designed german school, a survivor of the great chicago fire, is a simple, yet elegant hand-carved oversized side entrance keystone featuring a a raised and tapered panel integrated with a heavy circle with a deeply recessed opening. the circle may...

for the past two days i've devoted morning, afternoon and evening obsessively thinking about anything and everything pertaining to an augustus bauer-designed building constructed in 1869. the arrival of souvenir hunters, the police, an alderman, and other, largely unhappy individuals coalescing into a rather unnerving and heavily distracting form of preservation backlash that has made my meticulous documentation of the historically important gethsemane missionary baptist church...

a project manager working for chicago-based heneghan wrecking informed me late last week that two adjoining 19th century multi-story brick commercial buildings located along lake street were undergoing demolition in preparation for future development on the site. when i arrived onsite demolition was in progress, with a large crane taking apart the backside of one of the two buildings (possibly a former...

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from last week's listings (15 new items are added daily in their respective categories) on the urban remains website. as of this writing, we have surpassed the 22, 400 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available...

i just finished shooting several recovered artifacts that were used in the construction of a privy vault and cesspool likely constructed between 1855-1865 for chicago carpenter and millwork company owner john kent russell's house (non-extant).  the first of the two unusually-shaped privy vaults was discovered in the northwest corner of the lot earlier this fall, and was likely built in...

while rearranging our large assortment of interior and exterior artifacts salvaged from the historically important daniel h. burnham-designed reliance building last week, we rediscovered crates filled with matching cast iron hinges, escutcheons, doorknobs, office door mail chutes and window sash pulls. the urban remains's website does offer well over a hundred artifacts, ranging from terra cotta to incised key rings, there remains...