By the time the Glessners moved into their new house at 1800 South Prairie Avenue on December 1, 1887, the design had been both praised and vilified by neighbors and other passers-by. Frances Glessner carefully recorded all these comments in her journal as she became aware of them, and John Glessner felt they were so significant that he repeated them 45 years later while penning his The Story of a House.
From the time of its groundbreaking on June 1, 1886 until completion exactly eighteen months later, the house was also the subject of a number of articles in Chicago newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Inter-Ocean, the Chicago Herald, and the Chicago Evening Journal. Reviews here were also mixed, although not quite as mean-spirited. Journalists often seemed simply confused in attempting to explain what the architect and owner were trying to express in the unusual design, but admittedly these columnists presumably had no architectural training.
In celebration of the 135th anniversary of the completion of the house this month, we share some of our favorite excerpts from these newspaper accounts. At least eight have been identified, dated between June 1886 and November 1887. The three earliest articles were pasted into Frances Glessner’s journal; four later articles were added to a scrapbook maintained by the Glessners which included articles on many topics. One additional article, published just a few weeks before they moved in, may have been seen by the Glessners, but does not appear to have been saved by them.
COSTLY
DWELLING-HOUSES.
An
Apartment Building on One Corner of Eighteenth and Prairie and a House with No
Front Windows on the First Floor on the Other.
Chicago
Tribune, June 5, 1886
“On the southwest corner a very old style residence, but a new one in Chicago, is to be put up. It will be two stories high and have a frontage of 76 feet on Prairie avenue and 160 feet on Eighteenth street and cost $60,000. The owner is J. J. Glessner, who emigrated from the West side. It will be constructed after plans by the late H. H. Richardson. There will be no windows on the street fronts except in the second story, the first floor being lighted and ventilated from an interior court, the entrance to which is through a gated archway opening onto Prairie avenue. No one will be able to get in from the outside unless he forces the stout iron gate. The house will in appearance resemble dwellings to be seen in Spain and Mexico.
“It was jokingly said that this castle is to be built in anticipation of the day when the rich will have to keep out of the way of Anarchists and other bloodthirsty individuals who believe in a division of property, but the real object of the designer was not only to get greater privacy but also to have a novelty in the way of a house.”
NOTES: This article also described a proposed seven-story apartment house across the street from the Glessner House, designed by Burnham & Root. The $250,000 project never materialized, and a few years later, William Kimball acquired the site and built his French chateau, which still stands. There are, of course, many windows on the first floor, but it is unclear what information the journalist would have had from which to write his description. The “stout iron gate” refers to the porte cochere entrance for the carriages, a heavy oak paneled door with elaborate wrought iron trim. The reference to Spain is accurate; Richardson was influenced by Romanesque buildings seen in Spain during his 1882 trip to Europe. The oversized voussoirs in the arch over the front door being the most direct “appropriation.” The mention of “Anarchists” is very timely, as the article appeared just a month after the infamous Haymarket riot.
A
Dwelling-House of Novel Design on the Corner of Eighteenth and Prairie.
Chicago
Tribune, June 6, 1886
“Ground has been broken at the southwest corner of Prairie avenue and Eighteenth street for the erection of a private residence which, when completed, will show a very decided departure from the conventional in American architecture. The design is by the late H. H. Richardson, and its peculiarity is owing more to the location of the lot and the desire of the owner to get a full southern exposure than to other considerations.
“The masonry work will consist of the Braggville, Mass. granite base and Georgia pink marble without trimmings, the latter being used in the construction of the first and second floors. The stonework and trimmings on the court elevation are to be of Lemont limestone, while the openings, all of which will have a southern exposure, will be numerous, as the building will be practically lighted from the court formed by the inverted ‘L” shape of the structure. When completed, which the contractors, Norcross Bros., are under contract to do by Aug. 1, 1887, the building will be the only one of its kind in the country, and, in addition to its unique design and handsome, substantial appearance, will possess all the features of quiet, and light, and convenience.”
NOTES: This article appeared in the Chicago Tribune just one day after the first article described, being contained within a longer series of short articles under the “Chicago Realty” section of the paper. Not included above is a detailed description of the exterior including an accurate accounting of the fenestration (the arrangement of doors and windows) confirming the presence of windows on the first floor. The most significant change the Glessners made to the design of the house after Richardson’s death was to abandon the use of Georgia pink marble and carry the Braggville granite from the base all the way up to the roof line.
(Title
unknown)
Chicago
Evening Journal, July 10, 1886
“There seems to be a building boom just now. Houses are going up on every available lot, despite the groans of the pessimist, who prophesies hard times and probable panics. Richardson, the famous Boston architect, had before his death orders for several houses in Chicago, which in a few instances will revert to local architects willing to literally carry out his designs. One of these is a home on Prairie avenue - that holy of holies where only the elect do dwell - for a wealthy West Sider. This special elevation will be adapted from mediaeval architecture. It will not have a moat and draw-bridge, because enough property could not be secured to admit of this protection, but upon the first floor no window will look toward the street, although the house will stand on a corner, it being the owner’s idea to have an inside court, made beautiful by all that art can devise. Prairie avenue is a social street, and also a gossipy one, and it does not suit the neighbors that this newcomer should exclude all possibility of watching his windows and finding out what may be going on within-doors. It has heretofore been the custom to call all householders together when a new house was projected, and consult with them before breaking ground; if the plans should not please the majority, suggestions were freely offered, and such alterations made as would render it most acceptable; and that this house is going up in spite of disapproval, has thrown the neighborhood into a state of stupefaction.”
NOTES: The pessimistic opening to the article again speaks to the ongoing turmoil following the incident at Haymarket Square two months earlier. The reference to the need of a moat and draw-bridge is comical but not unique. A few months later, a journalist writing in the Chicago Tribune noted, in describing Potter Palmer’s castle on Lake Shore Drive, that “there should be a deep moat around the castle, and access to the main door should be over a draw-bridge.” That reference is a bit more understandable, given that Palmer’s castle also elicited the description of the “castle plucked from a fishbowl.” The Chicago Evening Journal seems to be a bit more sensational than the more serious Chicago Tribune, devoting nearly half of the description to the negative response from neighbors. Did one of them perhaps provide a tip to the journalist of the unhappiness on the street? One can’t help but think of the “anonymous” editorial three years later criticizing the front addition to Wirt Dexter’s house just a few hundred feet to the north of the Glessners’ house, which echoed everything Pullman hated about Dexter (his next door neighbor) extending the house to the front lot line. Pullman’s dislike of the Glessners’ house is legendary, so maybe . . . ?
PALACE
AVENUE.
Its
More Plebian but Better Known Title of Prairie.
Chicago
Inter-Ocean, January 2, 1887
“Passing to the opposite corner, upon the south, and a most originally planned structure greets the eye. The architect was the late H. H. Richardson, of Boston. The same gentleman designed Mr. Franklin MacVeagh’s house upon the lake shore drive and the new Field store. This strange looking building elicits many comments from both residents and strangers. For solidity it is superior among the thousands of well built houses in the city. There is no dividing line between the outer walls of the house and stable. The windows upon the street and avenue are for the most part small and the roof is sloping. The house covers every foot of the frontage. The grounds within are not visible except from the house of the owner.
“The northern wall of the new house, adjoining upon the south is unbroken. The residence is said to be of the Spanish-Mexican type, and of convenient internal arrangement. Its late architecture had a National reputation. When finished the house will be occupied by the builder, Mr. John J. Glessner, Warder, Bushnell & Glessner, and will alone represent a large fortune.”
NOTES: The focus of this very lengthy article was to provide a detailed description of the many large homes and mansions on Prairie Avenue from Sixteenth to Twenty-Second streets. Richardson’s other Chicago projects – the MacVeagh house on Lake Shore Drive and the Marshall Field Wholesale Store – were both in the process of completion when Richardson died in April 1886.
Title
unknown
Newspaper
and date unknown (probably April 1887)
“A number of new houses will be tenanted in another month. Mr. Osborne Keith intends taking possession of his lovely home on Prairie avenue in May; the Glessner fortress is nearing completion . . . “
NOTES: Osborne Keith’s house (partially seen at far left, above) stood immediately to the south of the Glessner house. The more traditional verticality of that house emphasized the horizontality of the Glessner house. Fortress became the most common adjective to describe the Glessners’ house – combining in one word Richardson’s heavy massing, the rusticated granite, minimal window openings on the north side, and the incorrect assumption that the design represented the occupants concern regarding “Anarchists” and the current labor problem.
NEW THINGS
IN TOWN
A
Queer House Out on the Avenue
Reaper
Man Glessner’s Dutch House in the Aristocratic Precincts of Prairie Avenue
Chicago
Herald, undated (late 1887)
“That is an odd house, surely, which the workmen are just now putting the inner and finishing touches upon at the corner of Eighteenth street and Prairie avenue, diagonally across the street from George M. Pullman’s mansion. It is a unique house, in fact, it is the only one of the kind in America. It is a typical Dutch house – a veritable ‘huis’ from Amsterdam – only it was designed by an American architect, built by American workmen of American materials, and stands in that hub of Chicago aristocracy and Americanism – Eighteenth and Prairie avenue. The quaint house appears all the more quaint amid its surroundings, where all is modern and United States and almost monotonously stiff in architecture and style.
“Light for the dining-room, and for many other rooms in both stories, is taken from the court, which is one of the distinguishing features of the house, and a novelty in this country. The problem which the architect had to solve in this house was not an easy one. Given, a long, narrow lot – 75 x 160. Wanted – a large, well-lighted house, with stable and yard. See how nicely the plan suits the situation . . . The court, 40 x 100, rivals in beauty the best examples to be found in the old world.
“It is a quaint house, and most people
riding by give it a cursory glance and exclaim “how ugly!” But it’s a home-like house, full of the means
of comfort and content, and for his $60,000 Mr. Glessner will acquire not only
the quaintest, but one of the best homes in all Chicago.”
NOTES: This is a most interesting description of
the house, and although terms such as odd and queer are used, the writer
clearly understands the significance of the design, and the problem Richardson
faced in bringing the maximum amount of light into the house. The origin of the
Dutch attribution is unknown and appears to be unique to this article (and the
one that follows, also from the Chicago
Herald.)
Chicago’s Nest of Millionaires.
Chicago Herald, undated (late 1887)
“’If you want to see the richest half-dozen blocks in Chicago,’ said an entertaining gossiper, ‘drive out Prairie avenue from Sixteenth street to Twenty-second. Right there is a cluster of millionaires not be matched for numbers anywhere else in the country’ . . . John J. Glessner, the reaper man, will soon move into his queer Dutch house with an inner court . . . How much wealth does this whole cluster represent? Well, this is only guess work, but I think that if all the men in that little neighborhood were to get together and sign a joint note for sixty or seventy million dollars it would make a pretty good note.”
NOTES: The focus of this article is to describe the wealth of the residents of Prairie Avenue. It is worth noting however, that John Glessner is the only one listed for which anything is said about his house; the reference clearly having been pulled from the article above.
THE
CITY IN BRIEF.
Miscellaneous.
Chicago
Inter-Ocean, November 5, 1887
“The handsome Glessner mansion on Prairie avenue will soon be ready for occupancy. It was one of Richardson’s last works, the plans being completed not long before that eminent architect’s death. It will be a Chicago monument to his genius.”
NOTES:
The last known article written before the Glessners moved into their home
provides the most generous compliment so far recorded, specifically to Richardson.
A Chicago monument indeed – the design was praised by architects – and
Richardson’s work went on to have a profound effect on Louis Sullivan, Frank
Lloyd Wright and others. Decades later, when the house was fighting to survive,
modernists like Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson were vocal in their
respect for the house and the importance of its preservation. So, after all the negative
comments were set aside, the true significance of the house was, in time, fully
realized.