Glessner House Museum Symposium November 10

On Saturday November 10, 2012 Glessner House Museum, in partnership with the Victorian Society in America, will hold a one-day symposium entitled “Glessner House at 125: Richardson’s Urban Residential Masterpiece Reconsidered.”  The event brings together seven scholars who will explore the architect H. H. Richardson, the interior decoration of the home, and its preservation in the mid-1960s.   The symposium will be preceded by an opening reception on Friday November 9 at which Richardson scholar Ken Breisch will present a lecture entitled “Situating the Glessner House: Late Richardson and the Romanesque Revival in the American West.”  An optional walking tour of the Prairie Avenue Historic District will be given by Executive Director Bill Tyre on Sunday November 11.  The symposium brochure and registration form may be downloaded at http://www.glessnerhouse.org/Events.htm.

For further information and to make reservations, call 312.326.1480.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE:

9:30am - Welcome

WILLIAM TYRE

Executive Director and Curator, Glessner House Museum

9:45am - Keynote Speaker

JAMES F. O’GORMAN

Professor Emeritus, Wellesley College

“Herkomer’s Portrait of Richardson in Iconographical Context”

A look at the place of the likeness in the history of portraying nineteenth-century American architects.  A large heliotype copy of the Herkomer portrait displayed in the main hall is one of the few items to remain in the Glessner House continuously since the late 1880s.

10:30am

MARY ALICE MOLLOY

Architectural Historian

“Richardson’s Web: A Client’s Assessment of the Architect’s Home and Studio”

An analysis of how Richardson used his home and office to encourage his clients to accept his ideas for their projects, based on a first hand account of John and Frances Glessners’ visits with the architect during the planning phase for their home on Prairie Avenue.

11:15am

KEVIN HARRINGTON

Professor Emeritus of Architectural History, Illinois Institute of Technology

“Mies Visits Glessner House: What Was He Thinking?”

When Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, an influential architect, first arrived in American in 1938, he considered conducting his new architecture curriculum in Chicago at the influential Glessner House.  This examination provides valuable insight into the relationship between two seemingly different architects.

12:00pm - Lunch

12:45pm

ELAINE HARRINGTON

Former Curator, Glessner House Museum

“Colors, Patterns, and Seasons in the Glessner House”

The Glessners and Richardson used many themes in this significant work of architecture and decorative art, blending them into a cohesive fabric responding to the life within.  The colors and patterns of design and life that resulted from the weaving together of these themes created this outstanding seasonal urban home.

1:30pm

ROLF ACHILLES

Curator, Smith Museum of Stained Glass and Adjunct Professor, School of the Art Institute

“Neugotik (New Gothic): A Springboard to Modern in American Furniture and Interior Design”

An examination of the Glessners’ evolving tastes during the 1870s and 1880s, from the new Gothic masterpieces designed for them by Isaac Scott, to later furniture by Charles Coolidge and Francis Bacon specifically commissioned for their new home on Prairie Avenue.

2:15pm

MONICA OBNISKI

Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts, Art Institute of Chicago

“The Impact of William Morris on the Arts and Crafts Movement in Chicago”

This talk will locate several examples of William Morris’s influence - through his ideals and his designs - in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century, including Glessner House, one of the earliest.

3:00pm

TED HILD

Illinois State Historic Preservation Official, 1972-2007

“Historic Preservation in Chicago at Mid-Century”

A description of the principles and practices of historic preservation in Chicago in the mid-20th century and an overview of early preservation battles, in order to place the preservation of the Glessner House in the context of the 1960s.

3:45pm

Concluding Remarks

4:00pm

Optional tours of Glessner House Museum

Glessner House Museum - The Newport Connection

PART I – THE DINING ROOM

The dining room of Glessner house is a warm and inviting space that witnessed numerous dinners and entertainments during the years that the Glessners were in residence.  The walls are covered in beautiful quarter-sawn oak paneling.  Above the paneling and plate rail is a frieze, approximately 14 inches in height that was orignally covered in what was known as “Japanese leather paper.”  These papers were introduced in England and the United States in the 1860s to simulate the look of highly embossed leather.  Produced in Japan and offered for sale through various English and American dealers, the thick paper was pressed while wet into designs carved on wood rollers.  After the paper dried, it was sized, covered with silver or gold leaf, stenciled, painted, and lacquered to produce a rich appearance.   The original paper, although well documented in historic photographs, had been removed by the time the house was purchased for use as a museum in 1966.

PART II – CHATEAU-SUR-MER

Newport Rhode Island is known for its extraordinary collection of summer “cottages” – huge mansions constructed by some of the wealthiest citizens of the United States.  Among these cottages is a home known as Chateau-Sur-Mer, located at 474 Bellevue Avenue.  Built as a year-round residence, this National Historic Landmark is known for its extraordinary collection of furniture, wallpapers, ceramics, and decorative finishes.  It was the grandest house in Newport until the appearance of the Vanderbilt houses in the 1890s.  The house was completed in 1852 in the Italianate style for William Shepard Wetmore who made his fortune as a China trade merchant.  One of Newport’s great social events, the “Fete Champetre” (an elaborate country picnic for over 2,000 guests) took place at the house in 1857.  Wetmore died in 1862 and left the bulk of his sizeable estate to his son George who hired Richard Morris Hunt in the 1870s to remodel and redecorate the house in the popular Second Empire style.  George Wetmore later served as governor of Rhode Island and as a U.S. Senator.  The house was purchased by the Preservation Society of Newport County in 1969 and operates as a house museum today.  (Visit www.newportmansions.org for further information).

PART III – RESTORATION OF THE GLESSNER DINING ROOM

The dining room of Glessner house was restored in 1974.  Research on the room documented the original frieze as a Japanese leather paper.  Through a fortunate chain of events, it was learned that original unused rolls of Japanese leather from the late 19^th century had been found in the attic of Chateau-sur-Mer.  Glessner house was able to acquire a sufficient quantity to restore the frieze.  Although the pattern is not identical to the original, it is very close, and the decorative surface closely replicates what the Glessners selected. 

THE NEWPORT-GLESSNER CONNECTION CONTINUES

On Saturday February 4, 2012 at 4:30pm, the Victorian Society in America will hold an event at Glessner House Museum to promote their annual summer schools in Newport, Rhode Island and London, England.  (Chateau-sur-Mer is included in the program).  At the event, attendees will listen to short illustrated programs on both schools, scheduled for June and July 2012, respectively, and will have the opportunity to ask questions, and learn about scholarship opportunities.  The event is free of charge but reservations are requested to 773-267-9336.