Glessner House - July 1948

In July 1948 – exactly 75 years ago – a young photography student at the Institute of Design, by the name of Robert C. Florian, visited Glessner House to photograph the iconic structure for a class assignment. Those black and white images provide a valuable record of the house during its transitional period between Glessner family ownership and its rescue from demolition in the 1960s, when it was occupied by the Lithographic Technical Foundation. In this article, we will share Florian’s story and some of our favorite images he captured the day of his visit.

Robert Charles Florian was born on January 28, 1926, in Cicero, Illinois. He developed a keen interest in photography during his high school years, enrolling in vocational photography classes and serving as photographer for the newspaper and yearbook at Morton High School. One of his photos took second place in a statewide competition.

1944 graduation photo

 

Soon after graduation, Florian was drafted and was sent to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station just north of Chicago. His aptitude for photography was noticed, and upon completion of his naval training as seaman second class, he was sent to the naval base at Pensacola, Florida, for five months of intensive photography training, learning to take pictures the “Navy Way.” He completed the course, ranking second in his class, and immediately undertook further training for movie cameras. In May of 1945 he was shipped to Hawaii where he served as a Naval photographer until the close of the war.

Florian, at left, in Hawaii with his camera

Florian was discharged in May 1946. Like many young men returning from World War II, he took advantage of the GI Bill and the funds it offered for education. He soon enrolled in Chicago’s Institute of Design which “offered the most important photography program in the United States and was the seminal place for the education of the modern artist-photographer from the 1930s through the 1960s.” (Light and Vision: Photography at the School of Design in Chicago, 1937-1952, Stephen Daiter Photography, 1994).

The Institute of Design began its life in 1937 as the New Bauhaus, developed under the guidance of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and briefly headquartered in the former Marshall Field mansion at 1905 S. Prairie Avenue (one block south of Glessner House). In 1944 it was renamed the Institute of Design, and in 1946 moved into the former Chicago Historical Society building at 632 N. Dearborn Street (shown below).

Prominent photographers who served on the faculty included Arthur Siegel (a New Bauhaus student) who returned to the school in 1946 when Moholy-Nagy made the decision to separate photography into its own department, and Harry Callahan, who took over as head of the department in 1949 when Siegel left. Among the students at this time was a young man who later distinguished himself with his architectural photography – Richard Nickel.

During Florian’s time at the school, he was given assignments with a general theme, and then he would develop the idea and head out to shoot images. One such assignment from Arthur Siegel was “Cross-Section Middle-Class Chicagoans” for which Florian decided to shoot a series of photos of people riding the “L.” Florian’s images for that project survive in the Arthur Siegel archive at the Chicago History Museum, and two of them (one shown below) were featured in Chicago Classic Photographs, edited by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams (CityFiles Press, 2017).

The specific theme of the assignment that brought Florian to the Glessner house is not known, although a review of the images would indicate that it was specifically geared toward architectural documentation. Florian shot 48 negatives comprising 33 distinct views (several were shot at more than one exposure).

The black and white sheet film negatives, known as 520 film, measure 2-1/4” x 3-1/4,” and include those made by both Kodak and Ansco. The collection at Glessner House includes all of the negatives and one print, with his stamp on the reverse. 

Two original prints (one shown below) are located in the collection of the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Although the exact camera Florian used is not documented, it is likely he used a Graflex. In 1947, the company released two new cameras – the Pacemaker Speed Graphic and the Pacemaker Crown Graphic – both of which used that film size. They were high quality cameras and were popular with the press. As such, they would have been excellent cameras for a university level photography program, introducing students to state-of-the-art cameras.

Graflex Pacemaker Speed Graphic, 1947

The Illinois Institute of Technology absorbed the Institute of Design in 1949, and Florian graduated from there on January 28, 1950 – his 24^th birthday. Among his fellow students was a young woman by the name of Virginia Lockrow; they married in September of that year. Florian worked for a time as a staff photographer for LIFE magazine and Coronet Educational Films. The couple settled in Berwyn, and both began their careers as art teachers – Robert at Main Junior High School in Franklin Park, and Virginia with LaGrange Grade School District 102.

1962 Toledo Glass Blowing Workshop; Florian front row, second from right

Florian had a deep interest in glass blowing and in 1962 participated in the Toledo Glass Blowing Workshop, a collaboration between glass artist and educator Harvey Littleton and the Toledo Museum of Art. The workshop is regarded as the birth of the American studio glass movement. Florian documented the workshop, the 1964 workshop at Madison, Wisconsin, and other glass artists in their studios. His collection of more than 600 negatives and prints now forms an important archive in the Rakow Research Library at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.

Robert Florian died on January 18, 1989, just ten days before his 63^rd birthday. His surviving photographs, ranging from artistic images of everyday riders on Chicago’s public transportation system to his documentary images of Glessner House and the birth of the studio glass movement, are a testament to his skill as a photographer and form an important archive of the mid-20^th century as captured in black and white.

The Lithographic Technical Foundation opens in Glessner House - 1945

Reception desk in main hall

In October 1945, exactly 75 years ago, and just weeks after the end of World War II, the Lithographic Technical Foundation (LTF) opened its new research laboratories in Glessner House. For the next twenty years, LTF occupied the building, helping to ensure its survival, while many of the neighboring houses were demolished. Utilizing a souvenir booklet from the opening of the laboratories, and a series of photographs taken by Hedrich Blessing, this article will provide a glimpse inside the house during the LTF occupancy.

Laboratory in former dining room

LTF was begun in the 1920s as a non-profit endowed institution with a mission of providing cooperative scientific research and related educational activities in the field of lithography. It maintained its educational headquarters and administrative offices in New York City, with a research laboratory at the University of Cincinnati. 

Laboratory in the former parlor; a light box (shown at far right) blocks off the north entrance into the room from the main hall

By the early 1940s, LTF was looking to expand its research activities and investigated eight of the leading research facilities in the United States, settling on Armour Institute, which had been gifted Glessner House in 1938. The first few collaborative projects were so successful, that the decision was made to relocate the research laboratories from Cincinnati to Chicago. With no facilities available on the main campus, LTF was offered Glessner House rent free, with LTF only responsible for a share of the annual maintenance.

Press set up in former coach house

The official opening of the laboratories took place on Tuesday October 23, 1945. LTF made good use of the 17,400 square foot building as is noted in the “Guide to Glessner House” included in the opening booklet.

The reception area was placed in the first-floor main hall, with the large panel over the fireplace painted with “Lithographic Research Laboratories” and a listing of the six main divisions. The research director, Prof. Robert F. Reed, used the Glessners’ former bedroom as his office. 

Prof. Reed's office in the Glessners' former bedroom

The library was retained for use as the research library, the large partners desk still in place. The parlor and dining room were converted into the main laboratories, with a physical chemistry laboratory, hood room, and experimental laboratories for platemaking, photography, and press occupying the rooms of the former kitchen suite.

School Room

The school room was, appropriately, designated for educational activities. The second-floor hall was made into a large conference room, utilizing the Glessners’ original dining room table, chairs, and sideboard. The two guest rooms were converted into additional conference rooms. 

Second floor hall with the Glessners' original dining room furniture shown at right

George’s former bedroom became the office of Wade E. Griswold, the executive director, and Fanny’s former bedroom was dedicated to optics and light research. The conservatory and female servants’ wing became ink and paper reference rooms and a lunchroom. The coach house became a demonstration room with a full-size press, with a maintenance shop, paper storage, and caretaker’s quarters above in the former hayloft and male servants’ quarters. The basement and third floor were turned into a series of demonstration rooms for chemistry, platemaking, dot etching, hand retouching, stripping, and opaquing, in addition to a darkroom and camera lab.

Executive Director Wade E. Griswold's office in George's former bedroom

The ample wall space in the house, previously filled with the Glessners’ collection of steel engravings, was hung with “many of the fine examples of lithographic workmanship, including a large portion of the fine collection of retrospective historical lithographic prints and other art subjects and fine examples of lithography produced by its members.”

Research library; the Glessners' partners desk is in the foreground with two of the original dining room chairs

The Deed of Gift between the Glessner family and Armour Institute (which became the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1940 upon its merger with the Lewis Institute) stipulated that Armour must retain ownership of the house for at least twenty years. A few years in advance of that anniversary date, IIT informed LTF that the leasing arrangements would be terminated at that time. LTF examined its possibilities and ultimately decided to purchase Glessner House from IIT at an agreed upon price of $70,000. A ceremony transferring ownership was held at the Lake Shore Club, 850 N. Lake Shore Drive, on April 2, 1958 – twenty years and two days after Armour had originally accepted the house.

Corner guestroom in use as a conference room: the walls were covered in silver leaf

Just five years later, LTF made the decision to consolidate the research facilities in Chicago and the educational activities in New York into a single location in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, near Carnegie Mellon University, with whom it often partnered. Glessner House was put up for sale for $70,000 and most of the original Glessner furniture pieces still in the house were sold, as LTF was considering demolition. The house was ultimately purchased by the newly formed Chicago School of Architecture Foundation in the spring of 1966 for just $35,000, and Glessner House Museum was born.

The Glessner House School Room

Photo by Hedrich Blessing, 1987

The last stop on a tour of Glessner House Museum is the school room.  Situated at the southeast corner of the house, it is the only family space located at the basement level.  Although more simply finished than other spaces within the house, in some ways, the school room most effectively shows Richardson’s brilliance in executing the floor plan for the house, and how carefully he considered function and circulation.  In this article, we will examine those issues, as well as taking a look at the room as its function changed over the course of the last 129 years.

A SCHOOL ROOM FOR THE CHILDREN

As originally designed, the room was to serve as the school room for the Glessners’ two children, George and Fanny, who were aged 16 and 9 respectively at the time the family moved into the house in December 1887.  It is the only room in the house to be finished in pine.  This does not reflect a desire to cut costs, for even the servants’ bedrooms are trimmed in quarter sawn oak.  The pine is more a reflection of the overall design of the room, which incorporates many features of the Colonial Revival that became popular following the centennial of the United States in 1876.  The room is dominated by a huge paneled fireplace faced in dark brick.  Dentil trim, a beamed ceiling, and fluted pilasters all reflect Richardson’s interest in using Colonial detailing, and pine was considered the most appropriate choice for these types of interior spaces.

What is most impressive about the room, however, is how it is accessed.  Located just inside the main entrance of the house, three doorways enable the room to function as an independent space within the larger house.  The entrance way leading from the main hall down six steps can be closed off with a paneled pocket door, making the doorway all but invisible to visitors going up and down the main stair case.  Having the room located at the front of the house allowed for the friends of the Glessner children to easily come and go without disrupting activity elsewhere in the house.

A second doorway, up two steps at the southwest corner of the room, leads to the entrance from the porte cochere.  In this way, the children and their friends would have had direct access to the courtyard when the weather was favorable for outdoor activities.  This doorway also opens to the base of the three-story spiral staircase, which allowed the children easy access to their bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor. 

The third doorway, at the northwest corner of the room, leads into the basement, accessed by going up two stairs.  The floor level of the basement is 24” higher than in the schoolroom – which was dug deeper to permit greater ceiling height in the room.  The first room in the basement off of the school room was possibly used by George Glessner as a dark room.  It is known that he did develop some of his negatives at home, and the proximity of this space to the schoolroom, combined with the fact there is only one small window, would have made it an ideal space for this purpose.  Continuing through this room, one has access to the full basement and then the staircase leading to the kitchen.  In this way meals could easily be taken to the children and their tutor, again without disrupting other activities in the household.

It is interesting to note that all three doors in the room are solid oak.  In each case, however, the door has been faced in pine on the school room side – even the door leading into the basement has the more expensive oak on the basement side of the door – clearly a sign that pine was not used to save money!

The room had central heat, as did the rest of the house, but in this space, which is nearly 50% below ground level, a large radiator was hung on the north wall of the room, and then covered with a huge brass panel.  Presumably that system worked well.  The radiator has long since been disconnected, and, as a result, the room continues to be the coolest in the house during the winter months.

In addition to the large work table in the middle of the room (originally the dining room table in the Glessners’ previous home), ample bookshelves held the children’s books and other items related to their school work.  Numerous cardboard boxes, carefully numbered, held hundreds of George’s glass plate negatives.  Of particular interest, along the north wall beneath the radiator, was a table which held various pieces of George’s equipment including a telegraph that connected to several of his friends in the neighborhood, and a fire alarm that was connected directly to the Chicago Fire Department.  (For more information, see the blog article “George Glessner and His Love of Technology” dated January 2, 2012).

Not surprisingly, the room functioned as the center for Christmas celebrations when the children were young.  In December 1888, George photographed the small table-top tree displayed on the school room table, decorated by the children on Christmas Eve.

THE CHILDREN ARE GROWN

Both children married in 1898, at which time the Glessners made the decision to convert the school room into a sitting room.  The central table and its chairs were given to George and his wife Alice, who returned them to their originally intended use in their dining room.   Plans originally called for an extensive redecoration of the room, and in January 1899, Frances Glessner noted that Louis Comfort Tiffany had been consulted about ideas for the space; those plans were never executed.  

The Glessners commissioned A. H. Davenport, the Boston-based firm that had made numerous pieces of furniture for the house when they first moved in, to make new pieces for the room.  The furniture included a sofa and adjustable back chair, copies of pieces in their library, both covered in the same cut-velvet fabric, Utrecht, by Morris & Co.  A sofa table was designed with a removable panel on the top to hold books.

LATER HISTORY

The Lithographic Technical Foundation occupied the house from 1946 until the mid-1960s.  Ironically, they returned the room to its original function as a class room.  In the image below, taken in 1946 by Hedrich Blessing, the room is furnished with a series of student desks, suitable for the seminars and other training sessions held in the house.

After the house was rescued from demolition in 1966, the school room took on a new use.  Given its proximity to the front door, it functioned perfectly as an office, the executive director and her assistant easily able to answer the door when visitors arrived, often for impromptu tours.

By the mid-1970s, significant work was needed in the room, including the floor which was badly rotted due to there being only a dirt floor beneath.  The entire maple floor and chestnut sleepers beneath were removed, concrete poured, and a new maple floor installed.  

Missing sections of bookcases were recreated, and repairs were made to the staircase and fireplace. 

Eventually, the offices were moved elsewhere in the building, and the room was restored to its original appearance as the school room.  Many of the original items, including a Morris Sussex chair, vases, pictures frames, and numerous books, were returned to the museum by the Glessner family and were put back into the room, based on the historic photos taken by George Glessner.

Today, the school room, with its books and writing tablets spread across the table, gives the appearance George and Fanny have just stepped out for a few minutes.  The space is of special interest to the many children who visit the house – unable to imagine the idea of their teacher coming to them, and having a classroom in their own home.  It reinforces the importance of education that the Glessners placed on their children, prompting John Glessner to recall:

“Over the threshold of this has passed a regular procession of teachers for you – in literature, languages, classical and modern, mathematics, chemistry, art, and the whole gamut of the humanities and the practical, considerably beyond the curricula of the High Schools. . . Of this I am sure, that it gave to each of you a great fund of general information, a power of observation and of reasoning, an ability and desire for study, and to be thoroughly proficient in what you might undertake.  If ever there was a royal road for that, you had it . . .”