shopping, architecture
I live in an old house, ca 1900 and nearly every day I despair over the new townhouses and apartment buildings that are being foisted on the 
unsuspecting, innocent (mostly) young Chicago buyers by developers seemingly addicted to shoddy construction.
I moved into my house a long time ago from another vintage row house so you might call me addicted which is fair enough. I've refurbished these houses with vintage doorknobs, especially. My son just bought a ca 1915 house in Brooklyn so I couldn't resist passing on my remaining doorknob collection to him and his understanding wife. Their friends came over to visit and I could just tell that they thought Dan's mother to be slightly wacky, changing doorknobs for hours at a time.
About a week later my husband and I were riding our bikes on Hubbard Street, a usual route, when what should I see but Eric Nordstrom's new shop, Urban Remains at 410 N. Paulina. Inside
I found tons of doorknobs along with many, many assorted and useful pieces of vintage household hardware, not a reproduction in sight!
Eric says he has the largest collection of vintage hardware in the city and I don't doubt it. I plan to comb my house for areas I might still be able to restore, thanks to this great new source. You'll also find stained glass, lighting fixtures, millwork, ironwork and more.
Eric, in photo above, opened this place in August of '06. He plans to open an architectural museum on the second floor of the building. Among things he plans to feature in the museum are old photographs, blueprints and renderings of furnishings, rare books on the subject and molds that were used to create the decor for vintage Chicago buildings.
If you don't have "this old house disease" you might stop by anyway because you'd learn some things about the city and its remaining treasury. Who knows, you might even help to save some of its' history yourself someday.
Urban Remains, 410 N. Paulina. Mondays-Sundays, 11-7. 312.523.4660.
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