As the
cold winter winds descend upon our city, we are provided with an opportunity to
reflect upon how our forefathers kept warm.
The Glessners’ home, known for its modern design by H. H. Richardson,
was also modern in terms of the technology it employed, including, for its day,
a state-of-the-art heating system.
It is
appropriate to reflect back upon the historic heating system of the house at
this time, as the museum is currently having a 21st century
state-of-the-art geothermal system installed.
For the past four weeks, crews have been working to dig two 500 wells in
the courtyard, and to connect those wells to an elaborate system which will
provide not only heating, but for the first time in the house, cooling and
humidity control. Extensive new insulated
duct work is being installed to maximize the efficiency of the system and to
take into account condensation that could occur during the cooling season. This initial phase of the system will handle
the first zone in the building which includes the parlor, dining room, kitchen
wing, and adjacent servants’ hallways.
As funds become available, seven additional zones will be brought on
line, ultimately resulting in the entire building being services by the
geothermal system. For more information
on the new system being installed, read the current article at the Historecycle
website.
ORIGINAL
HEATING SYSTEM
Although
little remains of the original heating system other than register covers, the
museum is fortunate to possess the “Specifications for a combined direct and
indirect radiating, two pipe, low pressure, gravity return Steam Heating and
Ventilating Apparatus for dwelling for Mr. J. J. Glessner, 18th St.
and Prairie Ave.” prepared in 1886 by Richardson’s office. The handwritten document is nine pages long,
and details every component of the system from the boiler to the trimmings, and
ducts to registers.
The 20
horse power locomotive fire box boiler was located in the cellar beneath the
north half of the coach house. Of the
system, John Glessner said in his 1923 “The Story of a
House”:
“The
heating is from the furnace room under the garage (formerly called the Coach
House), thus avoiding the dust and dirt and noise of coal and ashes in the
house – a hot water system it is, admirable for the time when it was put in.”
The system was a combination of direct and
indirect radiation. With direct radiation, the furnace would heat
the hot water and the gravity system would then take the heated water to the
eventual destination (hot water is lighter than cold water). Rooms heated with radiators included the
school room (shown above – the radiator is behind the large brass cover on the
north wall); the butler’s pantry, and the first floor toilet room; and three
male servants’ bedrooms on the second floor over the stable. The radiator in the butler’s pantry served
the double purpose of radiation and plate warmer. The plate warmer closet was lined with tin
and furnished with perforated, adjustable galvanized iron shelves.
The balance of the house was heated by
indirect radiation or what is known as convection (gravity flow system). It’s the same as in the hot water system
except the air is being heated which will then flow through the supply vents
and return to the furnace through cold air return vents usually placed near the
ceiling. This system was used on the
first floor in the parlor, dining room, living hall, library, bedroom, two
dressing rooms and bath room. On the
second floor there were vents in the four bedrooms, two dressing rooms,
bathroom, hall, corridors, servants’ bathroom and conservatory. There was also a vent in the carriage room on
the first floor of the Coach House. It
is interesting to note that in historic photos, the registers are frequently
covered over with a piece of light fabric, possibly to cut down on dust and
soot (note the floor register in the image of the corner guestroom below).
The indirection radiation was of cast
iron, with coils suspended from the basement ceiling by heavy wrought iron
hangers. A portion of one of these units
remains in place on the ceiling of the ramp leading to the cellar under the
coach house (shown below).
A gravity system does not provide the same
level of heat that we are accustomed to today with forced air systems. As such, the fireplaces throughout the house
were still an important part of keeping the house comfortable, and portieres
and pocket doors would be used to contain the heat in the occupied rooms. John Glessner noted that in the dead of winter,
it was hard to maintain a temperature in the house above 60 degrees. As such, some years after the original
installation, radiators were added to a number of the rooms.
The heating system was controlled by a
thermostat mounted to the oak paneling in the main hall immediately to the
right of the doorway leading into the library (visible in the photos
above). That thermostat was removed many
years ago but a historic replacement was installed early this month.
That thermostat (shown above) was
manufactured by the Chicago Heat Regulator Company, organized in 1904. Although not identical to the original, it is
quite similar, and reminds visitors that there was, in fact, a central heating
system in the house when it was completed in 1887.
FREDERIC TUDOR
The Glessner house system was designed and
installed by Frederic Tudor, a prominent Boston sanitary engineer and expert in
ventilation. Tudor, who maintained a
Chicago office at 273 Dearborn Street, submitted a proposal for the work in
July 1886 with revisions made at the architect’s request the following
month. Tudor was paid a total of $4,035.02
for labor and materials.
Frederic Tudor, the "Ice King"
Tudor was born in 1845, the eldest son of
Frederic Tudor, the “Ice King.” The
senior Frederic made his fortune harvesting fresh water ice in Massachusetts
and shipping it around the world to places as far away as India. The idea came to him after a trip to the Caribbean,
and the first successful shipment of ice was sent to Martinique in 1806. Frederic Tudor, the son, as a member of a
Boston Brahmin family, attended Harvard College and was a member of one of the
first graduating classes at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire.
Tudor received several patents for his
innovations, and was well-known and respected both in the United States and
Europe. Not surprisingly, he had worked
on a number of earlier buildings by H. H. Richardson including the New York
State Capitol at Albany, Sever Hall at Harvard, the Cincinnati Chamber of
Commerce, and the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Following his death in 1902, The
American Architect and Building News, for which he was a frequent
contributor, ran a lengthy article about his contributions to the development
of modern heating and ventilation systems.
A few excerpts from the article, published February 11, 1903, are
reprinted below:
“Today is the anniversary of the birth of Frederic
Tudor, sanitary-engineer and expert, well known to architects and civil-engineers
through the United States and Europe, in whose death this community met with
great loss. Mr. Tudor was a pioneer in
ventilation and sanitation of dwelling-houses and public buildings, an
occupation in which he sacrificed his time, his health and his fortune.
“Some of his best work was shown in the Cancer
Hospital and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City; the Capitol at
Albany; the Walker Building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of
this city. All these buildings have long
been noted for their practically perfect systems of ventilation and
heating. The Cancer Hospital and
Metropolitan Opera House are ventilated by essentially the same system – the former
being acknowledged to be the most perfectly ventilated hospital in the
world.
“When the project of building a new Boston Public
Library was decided upon, Mr. Tudor was called in to draw up plans for the
heating and ventilation. On the opening
night of the Library the hundreds of people who were present discovered that,
although the thermometer outside registered nearly zero, the temperature and
circulation of air in the building were perfect. Expressions of praise were heard on all
sides, and on the following day articles appeared in the daily press,
complimenting Mr. Tudor upon the success of his plans and system.
“The vapor-system of heating, so-called, was invented
by Mr. Tudor, and is to-day used extensively throughout Germany and France,
sanitary-engineers in those countries giving him entire credit as its
originator. Only with the last two or
three years have American engineers properly appreciated the value of economy
of operation as revealed in Mr. Tudor’s system.
“Mr. Tudor’s services to his profession have gradually
become better understood, and the public will no doubt in time learn to remember
the name of one who was the pioneer in inventing and developing systems and
devices for supplying modern homes and public buildings with abundance of fresh
air and temperate heat, both essential to health and comfort. As a result of seventeen years thought and
experiment, he perfected shortly before his death a plan of low-pressure
steam-heating, known as the “thermograde system,” which is now being used in
Randolph Hall, Cambridge; Apthorp House, Cambridge; Hampden Hall, Cambridge,
and the Beaconsfield Casino, Brookline.”
It is not surprising that Richardson and
the Glessners would have chosen Frederic Tudor, clearly a leader in his field,
for the design and installation of the modern heating system to be installed in
their modern house.
