A Chicago that was.

[Jd755]

I came across this site last night and got lost in it for hours so decided to share some of the things within it simply to illustrate what has been lost, what only lasted a decade or two, how easily true craftsmanship is abandoned then thrown away.
Many of these buildings and their ornate facades and interiors were used as land fill on the shore frtont of Lake Michigan. A travesty to my mind. Its worth paying attention to the dates of these buildings.
Other locations do also feature!

The site photographic images, ephemera and artifacts from ongoing 2023 chicago-centric private archival collections

seldom seen photographic image of louis h. sullivan's holy trinity orthodox cathedral taken shortly after it was built in 1903.
unidentified photographer.
courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

original 1947 photographic print of of the spanish baroque style marbro theater (1928), located at 4110 w madison street, chicago, ills.
designed by edward eichenbaum for the architectural firm of levy and klein, the decorative colossal terra cotta-clad theater was destroyed in 1964.
courtesy of the bldg. 51 archive.

photographic image (scanned from original kaufmann and fabry glass negative) of the john eberson-designed 3600-seat paradise theater (1928), located at 231 n. pulaski road, chicago, ills.

early 20th century kaufmann and fabry print of holabird and roche's old colony building (1893), located at 407 s. dearborn street, chicago, ills.
haven't seen many early images of the building's west facade

rarely seen james w. taylor construction photo of adler and sullivan's auditorium building (1889) taken from sw corner of wabash and congress.
courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

seldom seen early 20th century heliotype (image taken by h.h. sidman) of bayard building's upper stories including cornice. the 13-story new york city skyscraper was completed in 1899, with louis h. sullivan and lyndon p. smith as architects.

the perth amboy terra cotta company used their own modeler (anlgelo ricci) to execute the building's terra cotta facade. since kristian schneider wasn't allowed to model the ornament, sullivan's office had to make full-sized drawings with detailed annotations for ricci, unlike schneider, ricci didn't quite have the instinctual prowess to make sullivan's ornament flow and become part of the surface itself. as a result, the ornament looks a little stiff.
courtesy of private collection.

original undated james w. taylor albumen print of chicago city hall and county building (designed in 1882 by architect james egan).
the french renaissance style limestone structure with 35-foot polished maine granite corinthian columns was completed in 1885. nearly 20 years later, newman wrecking arrived to demolish it for holabird and roche's existing neoclassical city hall building completed in 1911.
image courtesy of private collection.

And its ongoing today.
demolition permit for fred p. morgan house (1895) will likely send the house into the landfill by end of summer

 

[Jd755]

As I said a travesty.
recently demolished 19th century bell avenue chicago workers cottage lives on through salvaged remnants of its facade
mid-1870s post-chicago fire italinate style wood-framed house on burling brought down after failed attempts to save it

A few more.

original oversized albumen print of s.s. beman's hotel florence as it appeared shortly after completion in 1881. the image was likely taken by architectural photographer james w. taylor, who's photographs of chicago taken during 19th and early 20th century are well documented.
courtesy of private collection

rarely seen interior image of richly ornamented pullman building (1884, solon s. beman, architect) carved wood staircase as it appeared in 1956, the year the building was demolished.
the label on verso dates the image to 3-19-1956, with the woman on staircase identified as nora wilson. the photographer is not known.
courtesy of tim samuelson collection.

original 1884-1885 red slip glaze exterior figural terra cotta block executed by the northwestern terra cotta company.
the fragment features a centrally located satyr flanked by foliated scrollwork. the red slip is amazingly intact.
salvaged from a chicago three-flat demolished in the 1970s.
courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

richard nickel image of bob furhoff and david norris removing roofline ornament from adler and sullivan's louis frank house (1884) in the summer of 1968.
courtesy of tim samuelson collection.

 

[Jd755]

documenting and deconstructing the 19th century chicago workers cottage
Do have a read of that blog post when considering what these photos show.

group of early 20th century snapshots of a chicago workers cottage taken inside and out.
courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

 

[Jd755]

Now a look at what made rapid construction possible.

 

[Starfire]

I came across this site last night and got lost in it for hours so decided to share some of the things within it simply to illustrate what has been lost, what only lasted a decade or two, how easily true craftsmanship is abandoned then thrown away.

Nice find. The site is loaded with pictures.

View attachment 30020​

rarely seen james w. taylor construction photo of adler and sullivan's auditorium building (1889) taken from sw corner of wabash and congress.
courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

There are a few items in this picture that caught my eye.

The first one was the random framed artwork sitting off to the side with the building supplies. Was it pulled out of one of those upper stories they are busy re-constructing? So they don't care if it is exposed to the elements because the surface is already cracked and damaged. Or is a newly created work of art waiting to be placed in the newly constructed building? Pretty disrespectful of the artist and the cost involved to commission it, just leaving it out there where it could get rained on or stolen.

The second item I question is the For Lease sign. I looked for a while for a higher resolution of the picture so I could read the sign. No luck with my poor vision. You are better at hunting down images than I am JD, perhaps you could look. What does it say?
"This elegant corner (address) to lease for 100 years...without ????...H.M.Sherwood (address)".
A hundred year lease? Is that normal for a commercial property? Or is that the standard length lease for Reset buildings only - long enough to avoid any questions, and also an indicator at the county land office that this property needs to be dealt with differently. And what is the lease contract going to be "without"? Restrictions? Bathrooms? Blueprints?

Then there is the fire hydrant. It's no big deal, just made me think about fire hydrants in the pre- and post- reset worlds. Something to look into later.

 

[Jd755]

the
elegant corner
2732? illegible
to lease
for illegible (TEN?) years
without illegible

HM SHERWOOD

3rd illegible NY

The gone with the wind image is part of the to lease sign and its an advert.Its for the corner plot that hasn't been developed.

 

[Jd755]

Apologies I missed this bit from my reply above.

That image is the only digital image online of a scan of a negative. The chap who runs bldg51 has loads and loads of negative, plates and photos and is scanning them into a digital record.

Then there is the fire hydrant. It's no big deal, just made me think about fire hydrants in the pre- and post- reset worlds. Something to look into later.

Behind every hydrant is an assembly factory behind which is machinist behind which is a iron smelting and casting foundry behind which is a source of iron ore and coking coal.
Underground there are cast iron pipes which connect the hydrant to a holding reservoir or water tank which is high enough above the hydrant to provide a descent enough head pressure to supply fire engines and their onboard pumps.
These engines are produced in a similar way to the hydrants.
All in all the infrastructure that supports and uses fire hydrants in and of itself renders the the idea of a reset quite daft frankly.

These systems and machines require maintenance and repair, replacement for them to remain effective. Rubber, brass, bronze, leather seals all fail in due course. If the pipes aren't flushed regularly they run the risk of silting especially if they have been run and left dry for a length of time. Same goes if they break for any reason. I dont know but would hazard a guess there are filter baskets in the systems which have be cleaned regularly to remain effective.

 

[Otherlane]

Apologies I missed this bit from my reply above.

That image is the only digital image online of a scan of a negative. The chap who runs bldg51 has loads and loads of negative, plates and photos and is scanning them into a digital record.

Behind every hydrant is an assembly factory behind which is machinist behind which is a iron smelting and casting foundry behind which is a source of iron ore and coking coal.
Underground there are cast iron pipes which connect the hydrant to a holding reservoir or water tank which is high enough above the hydrant to provide a descent enough head pressure to supply fire engines and their onboard pumps.
These engines are produced in a similar way to the hydrants.
All in all the infrastructure that supports and uses fire hydrants in and of itself renders the the idea of a reset quite daft frankly.

These systems and machines require maintenance and repair, replacement for them to remain effective. Rubber, brass, bronze, leather seals all fail in due course. If the pipes aren't flushed regularly they run the risk of silting especially if they have been run and left dry for a length of time. Same goes if they break for any reason. I dont know but would hazard a guess there are filter baskets in the systems which have be cleaned regularly to remain effective.

Great finds JD...another thing people tend to overlook when proposing the idea that buildings sat idle for such a long time before being repurposed is how quickly mold grows and spreads without any air circulation. Granted many of the old world buildings were designed better to circulate air, but regardless of the material mold will make its way and spread rather quickly in stagnant air (I read a few years ago about mold being found in deep space but I don't recall the finding and I truly don't pay attention to much coming from NASA). I've done home inspections for years for bank-owned properties and within a few weeks of these homes being winterized and the electricity being turned off there is rampant mold spreading. Mold especially loves it where it's nice and damp in basements. The cheap drywall, insulation, and lumber many of these overpriced homes are built with are very susceptible to mold. I still think a lot of buildings were here prior to their official story but were never actually vacated and likely used for different things rather quickly but I agree a lot of them were also built somewhat in conjunction with the official narrative and were demolished because of greed and brutalism. The Communist Bolshevik ideology of brutalism was just as much alive in the West as it was in the East as we can all see! Don't allow people to enjoy beauty when they need to learn they're nothing more than a cog in the machine.

 

[Jd755]

The mould and the fungus are the recylers of organic matter. Wood being the obvious issue with the idea of buried buildings being dug out and put back into use.