Glessner, John J., House - Chicago, IL
Posted by: adgorn
N 41° 51.432 W 087° 37.248
16T E 448471 N 4634107
A National Historic Landmark, Glessner House was designed by noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in 1887. It remains an internationally-known architectural treasure in Chicago.
Waymark Code: WMQXF7
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 04/10/2016
Views: 3
More from their website: "A radical departure from traditional Victorian architecture, the structure served as an inspiration to architects such as Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, and the young Frank Lloyd Wright and helped redefine domestic architecture.
The Glessner family lived in this house for fifty years, through the heyday and decline of the Prairie Avenue neighborhood. John Glessner cherished the home as a symbol of happy family life, and the interiors of Glessner House demonstrate the nearly perfect collaboration between the architect and his clients. Designed during the so-called Gilded Age, when America’s newly rich industrialists were living in modern-day castles, Glessner House represents architect Henry Hobson Richardson’s response to the Glessners’ desire for a simple, comfortable home that retained the “cozy” feeling of their previous home on West Washington Street.
The house’s fortified appearance is boosted by a foundation constructed of Illinois dolomite, with walls of Braggville pink granite. These walls are only eight to ten inches thick, concealing a structural wall of common brick.
Although the house contains over 17,000 square feet, domestic scale is preserved throughout. There are no vast empty spaces. And although many of the rooms are symmetrically planned, often with a centrally-placed fireplace flanked by doors or openings on one wall, the rooms are connected to each other asymmetrically, establishing a nice balance between formal and informal. In addition, more than half of the space was used for service.
In 1960, the Glessner House was named an honorary Chicago landmark. In 1970, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and renamed a Chicago landmark. In 1972, the Prairie Avenue Historic District, which includes the Glessner House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1976, the Glessner House was named a National Historic Landmark."
The home is located in the Prairie Avenue Historic District. Glessner House Museum offers guided tours of Glessner House (1886), a National Historic Landmark. Tours are led by trained docents and last approximately 75 minutes.
We were fortunate to be able to visit during the annual Open House Chicago in October, 2014.
Street address: 1800 S. Prairie Ave. Chicago, IL USA
County / Borough / Parish: Cook
Year listed: 1970
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering
Periods of significance: 1875-1899
Historic function: Domestic
Current function: Recreation And Culture / Museum
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Secondary Website 1: [Web Link]
National Historic Landmark Link: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.