Urban Remains Chicago News and Events

i recently acquired a remarkable cobalt blue iron pontil glass soda bottle that was recovered from a wood-lined privy pit dating to the 1850's. interestingly, the bottle is not native to chicago, although other bottles found where identified as chicago-based lomax and competitor hutchinson, who had bottling operations during this time period. the image below was taken from the 1853 bird's...

this remarkable contraption, comprised of painted iron and wood, is a very early commercial building integrated fire hose reel and swing-out bracket manufactured by or for jno. c.n. guilbert of new york city. the date of fabrication is likely 1895-98. the firefighting device was made available shortly before a series of patents were filed for similar contraptions that were designed...

a detailed overview of this incredibly resourceful and gargantuan tome is written below by the authors. since purchasing this book, i have it on hand at every jobsite when the demolition phase has concluded and excavation of the lot begins. that way, i can immediately identify and catalog (on site) the bottles we discover in the privy pits. "in the...

late in the afternoon we arrived at the site of a chicago worker's brick cottage constructed in 1885. the exterior had been substantially altered or remodeled over its lifespan, so there wasn't much to salvage in terms of architectural artifacts - both in terms of the interior and exterior. however, the building materials and methodologies were of great interest to...

very few of the original "sprite" statues adorning midway gardens survived demolition in 1929. the indoor/outdoor entertainment facility was constructed in 1914 with frank lloyd wright as architect. the full-bodied statues were designed and executed by notable industrial designer and sculptor, alfonso iannelli. wright took much of the credit with the design process, which greatly upset iannelli to the point...

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this 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 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available for...

i happened upon the valentin blatz brewing company office building as i was leaving milwaukee. the weathered signage on an "outbuilding" prompted me to stop and photograph. my camera quickly moved towards the romanesque style office building constructed in 1890, with paul schnetzky as architect on record. the building at one point housed the beer baron restaurant, which featured a painted...

as a late 1870's two story worker's cottage is rapidly being transformed into a growing pile of splintered old growth wood, i managed to work around the ongoing chaos and extract several intact building components that were used to build this modest 19th century hybrid frame dwelling; incorporating the use of balloon frame and post and beam construction. the interior...

the photo gallery below offers hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this 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 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available for...

more so than ever it seems, we have several clients aggressively seeking out and purchasing any and all of the "beau brummel" liquid soap dispensers made available on the urban remains website. long ago, we acquired a sizable quantity from one of our sources (outside the realm of local demolition contractors) who managed to secure a variety of artifacts salvaged...

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF "WEED" VASES Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 USD IMPORTANT 20TH CENTURY DESIGN 17 DECEMBER 2014 | 2:00 PM EST NEW YORK FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AN IMPORTANT AND RARE PAIR OF "WEED" VASES patinated copper 29 1/8  in. (74 cm) high circa 1895-1900 executed by James A. Miller and Brother, Chicago PROVENANCE Cathers & Dembrosky, New York Edgar...

the bergmann socket was designed to be compact and simply constructed with as few parts as possible, including the amount of insulation used and possess a very simple form of "circuit-controller." the stout copper-plated two-part shell or casing, containing several lightly incised patents, conceals the socket, consisting of the threaded sleeve that receives the light bulb that screws into place...

i feel very fortunate that we had the opportunity last saturday afternoon to attend the last day of architech gallery owner david jameson's "burnham, sullivan & wright" exhibit. almost immediately upon our entry we received a warm greeting and quick overview from david. i happened to notice my friend lynn becker there, admiring the framed drawings and blueprints hung on...

as i continue to systematically document an overwhelming amount of drawings, photographs, artifacts and correspondences revolving around notable artisan odin j. oyen, i felt it was important to share multiple drawings i've gathered thus far that not only shed new light on oyen's work during his time in chicago at the art institute, but also document the evolution of oyen's...

early in the afternoon we arrived at the job site during a momentary pause as the wreckers were refueling their backhoe. we took advantage of that time to quickly assess the unusually large, double lot, containing a single victorian era red brick two-flat residence constructed in the 1880's. i must admit, from the very beginning, it was incredibly hard to...

the photo gallery below offers numerous hand-picked or "highlighted" artifacts from this 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 21,200 item mark. the ultimate goal since day one, is to have each and every artifact (housed in the showroom and warehouses), available...

download bldg. 51 ebook - here!

i finally got the chance to devote a few hours to document any and all changes made to the chicago athletic association building as it continues to move closer to become one of chicago's more distinctive and historic "boutique" hotels (strictly my opinion). changes in the lobby entrance, grand staircase, swimming pool room, 2nd floor reading room, the famous "cherry...

between residential salvages we digressed somewhat by spending two days in a recently shuttered chicago area factory, where most of the industrial equipment and/or furniture no longer in use (i.e., lying dormant) dates to 1915-23. the great majority of the factory lockers, stools and miscellaneous machinery was relegated to a section of this largely abandoned sprawling complex that likely had...

from the very beginning of this salvage, the so-called "coach house" (more often referred to as a carriage house), located on the back lot of the property, was the structure that peeked my interest more than the two flat (1897) facing the street. i felt convinced from the beginning that the classic gabled roof two-story wood frame chicago workers cottage (1883-87...