Glessner House Museum

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Exterior of the Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Glessner House Museum

1800 South Prairie Avenue

Chicago, IL

Website:  Glessner House Museum

The Treasure:   Both an architectural masterpiece and an important Arts and Crafts destination, Glessner House offers a fascinating glimpse into upper-class life in Chicago during America’s Gilded Age.

Accessibility:  The Glessner House Museumis open year-round, with tours offered Wednesday through Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.

Background:  Built in the mid-1880s on Chicago’s very fashionable Prairie Avenue, Glessner House was initially viewed askance by its more traditional neighbors. While John J. Glessner (1843-1936) was well respected as an up-and-coming member of Chicago society, his house was… different. It reflected the new English fashion for medievalism. And it even asserted the Glessners’ privacy by offering few exterior windows for the neighbors to observe them through. One of these neighbors was George Pullman, the industrialist behind the Pullman sleeping car. Apparently, Pullman never adjusted to the sight of the Glessner House, once saying, “I do not know what I have ever done to have that thing staring me in the face every time I go out of my door.”

Having made his fortune in the farm implement trade (managing one of the five companies that would eventually form International Harvester), Glessner commissioned one of the country’s most famous architects, Henry Hobson (H.H.) Richardson (1838-1886), who had nationally established himself with the monumental design of Boston’s Trinity Church in 1872. With buildings like Trinity Church, Richardson’s style was so distinctive that it became known by his name: “Richardsonian Romanesque.” He built libraries, railroad stations, public buildings, commercial buildings, college halls, and family homes in this new style. The Richardsonian Romanesque style freely adapted medieval inspirations, mainly derived from 11th and 12th century France, using modern engineering and American materials.

The Main Hall at the Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Glessner House is widely acknowledged to be Richardson’s masterpiece of urban residential design. It truly did look different from the other staid townhouses of Prairie Avenue. The house’s exterior was built of imposing Braggville pink granite, creating a medieval fortress-like effect. The exterior ornamentation was kept to a stark minimum. But in its interior, Glessner House offered a cozy domestic feeling appropriate for raising a family. The casual mix of small and larger rooms often featured welcoming fireplaces and colorful Arts and Crafts Movement details.

The Library at the Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Along with their chosen architect, Glessner and his wife Frances shared a love of the flourishing English Arts and Crafts Movement. The Glessners and Richardson appreciated the works of John Ruskin, an influential English writer who called for a societal revival of the artistry and craftsmanship of medieval times. In decorating the house, the Glessners looked to William Morris and other Arts and Crafts practitioners — all of whom were also inspired by Ruskin’s ideas. In the decades that followed the building of Glessner House, the Arts and Crafts movement would explode in the United States with Chicago serving as a major hub for the new breed of craftsmen, artists, and architects. Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Prairie Style was profoundly influenced by these new ideas, both in architecture and design.

There is much to interpret today at Glessner House. People come to see its formidable architecture and its beautiful Arts and Crafts collections (with notable works by William Morris, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Isaac Scott, Emile Gallé, and Francis Bacon). However, they probably mostly come to enjoy a tantalizing glimpse of life in the Gilded Age. The Glessners combined wealth with intelligence and taste, creating an enclosed world on Prairie Street that reveals the uniquely 19th century aspirations of the Gilded Age.

The Dining Room at Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of Glessner House Museum.

The Parlor at Glessner House Museum.
Photo courtesy of Glessner House Museum.

The Save America's Treasures project at Glessner House Museum involved
the restoration/renovation of the original coach house, which originally
contained the carriage house and stable.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum.

Other Recommended Sites:  The Glessner House Museumalso offers tours of Clarke House Museum(1827 S. Indiana Avenue), just around the corner from Glessner House. Completed in 1836, the Clarke HouseMuseum is Chicago’s oldest surviving building. Seasonal neighborhood tours take visitors past other notable Prairie Avenue locations, including the Second Presbyterian Church. Located at 1936 S. Michigan Avenue, Second Presbyterian Church contains one of the largest and most intact Arts and Crafts interiors in the country including nine Tiffany windows and two others that were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co., the influential English business established by William Morris. The Second Presbyterian Church offers interior guided tours, as well as a self-guided tour brochure.

A spacious private courtyard at Glessner House provided natural light
for the main rooms of the house, while retaining the family's privacy.
Photo courtesy of the Glessner House Museum

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Friday’s destination:  The Carl Sandburg Collection

© 2012 Lee Price