The Glessners Visit St. Louis - April 1888

On Tuesday April 24, 1888, the Glessners left Chicago for a short trip to St. Louis, returning Friday morning.  We herewith present Frances Glessner’s accounting of the trip from her journal:

“Wednesday morning at 7:35 we reached St. Louis – we went to the Southern Hotel.  After breakfast (a poor one) we took a Victoria and went to call on Mr. Cameron whom we met on the street. 

"Then we drove over the principal streets, saw Mr. Lionberger’s house, built by Richardson, went to Shaw’s garden, a most interesting and wonderful place, then we lunched at a house out of town in a grove called “Delmonico Grove Restaurant.”  We had broiled chicken and canned asparagus.

“We went back then to the hotel, took another carriage and went to the Museum of Fine Arts to call upon Prof. Halsey Ives to whom we had a letter from Mr. Hutchinson.  We didn’t find Prof. Ives – but we went over the Museum.  We took Mr. Cameron to Torry Faust’s where we had some Pompano, Lobster and spring chickens – each drank two glasses of delicious beer.

“Thursday morning we took a carriage, drove to Tower Grove Park, by Lafayette Park through a part of Forest Park. 

"We drove all through Forest Park the day before – the Park is like a bit of woods with here a slope blue with violets and everywhere patches of spring beauties. 

"We lunched with Mr. Cameron at the Mercantile Club – and there we looked in at two pawn shops but failed to find anything to buy.  We drove where we had a good view of the bridge too.  We dined at the hotel and left for home at 7:55.”

NOTES

There were actually two Lionberger houses in St. Louis, both of which were designed by Richardson. 

The J. R. Lionberger house, built for a founder and long time president of the Third National Bank of St. Louis, stood on Vandeventer Avenue and was demolished in 1951.  It was designed in 1885, with construction occurring in 1886 and 1887, the exact dates of design and construction for the Glessner house, and it shared a number of similarities in design. 

The I. H. Lionberger house was built for J.R.’s son, a leading St. Louis attorney and husband of Louise Shepley, whose brother George was Richardson’s assistant and one of the partners in the successor firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge.  The son’s house was designed and built at the same time as the father's, and although it remains standing today, it has been significantly enlarged and altered. 

Shaw’s Garden was founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw, a botanist and philanthropist.  It is known today as the Missouri Botanical Garden and is a National Historic Landmark.

The stone capitals on Glessner House

The façade of Glessner House is dominated by courses of rusticated Braggville granite of various heights, creating the “fortress-like” appearance so often sited in books on American architecture and so representative of Henry Hobson Richardson’s mature style.  Upon closer examination, however, subtle ornamentation enlivens the façade in a few carefully selected locations – beautifully executed stonework that relates directly to the detailing which visitors find upon passing through the front door.

Among the details are a series of nine carved capitals terminating the dressed stone piers set between the second floor windows on both the façade and the north side of the house.  Each of the nine capitals is different, mixing and matching various motifs including the acanthus leaf, dentils, discs, diamonds, scrolls, and basket-weave designs.  Of particular interest is the capital located directly over the front entrance which features the monogram of Richardson, with its pair of mirror-image capital Rs set within a larger letter H, the whole contained in a large circle (see image at top).

The capitals were carved in situ, as was most of the stone decoration.  Early views of the house under construction show the blocks of stone in place awaiting their decoration by the carver’s hand.  The Glessners’ good friend and designer, Isaac Elwood Scott, was asked to prepare designs for the capitals, but the Glessners were not pleased with the drawings he presented. 

A letter dated August 9, 1887 from George Shepley (the architect in the firm of Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge who oversaw the completion of Glessner House) to John Glessner notes that “Mr. Evans started last week with his carvers for Chicago and St. Louis.” 

John Evans (1847-1923) was a Welsh sculptor who first worked with Richardson on the completion of the frieze atop the tower of the Brattle Square Church in Boston in 1873.  Evans also provided the sculpture at Boston's Trinity Church and later went on to found a nationally recognized sculptural studio in Boston.  In 1897, he became a member of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, and a prominent member of Boston’s medieval “guild” of artists.  Richardson used Evans for the sculpture and carving on a number of his buildings, and Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge continued to use his services after Richardson’s death in 1886.

The receipts of the construction of Glessner House show that Evans, or more correctly his firm, Evans & Tomb, was paid $1,086.50 for the stone carvings, including the nine capitals. 

125 years ago today, the Glessners christen their new home

On December 12, 1886, exactly 125 years ago today, John and Frances Glessner “christened” their new house at 1800 South Prairie Avenue.  Although they would not move into the house for nearly another year – December 1, 1887 – the house was finished off to the point where they could walk through the entire building and clearly see what Richardson had created for them.  George Shepley, one of the three architects who took over Richardson’s office after his premature death in April 1886 (and the one primarily responsible for supervising the completion of the Glessner house), was visiting Chicago with his wife, so the Glessners seized the opportunity to show them the house.  The following is an excerpt detailing the event taken from Frances Glessner’s journal:

We took Mr. and Mrs. Shepley for their first view of the house.  They were in raptures over it.  Mr. Shepley said we were the first clients he had ever envied – but he would like to live in the house.  We left the carriage at 16^th St. and walked down to look at it.  We took down champagne and Italian bread to christen the house and have our first meal there.  We went all over the house.  Then to Field’s to see our rugs and some embroideries – then we dropped Mr. and Mrs. Shepley at the Richelieu.

This evening, December 12, 2011, sixty members, friends, and volunteers of the museum gather for a “re-christening” dinner to mark this notable event in the history of the house.  A full dinner, including champagne, will mark the occasion, after which William Tyre, Executive Director and Curator, will give a talk on the life and accomplishments of John Jacob Glessner. 

The celebration of the 125^th anniversary of the building of Glessner house will continue throughout 2012, culminating in December, when we mark the anniversary of the family moving into their beloved home. 

Who designed the leaded glass window in the house??

For years, the beautiful amber glass window in the curved door of the first floor main hall has been attributed to Donald MacDonald, a Boston glassmaker.  Recently, however, a newspaper article which appeared in the Chicago Tribune on May 31, 1903, cast some doubt on this attribution.  The article focused on the work of John La Farge, one of the great designers of stained glass windows in the late 19th century, and the chief competitor of Louis Comfort Tiffany.  In the article, La Farge's Chicago windows are listed, including the Crerar memorial window for Second Presbyterian Church (which had been destroyed in a fire in March 1900), a window for Trinity Episcopal Church (later destroyed in a fire), a dozen windows in the Chicago Board of Trade (later demolished) and "windows in the house of J. J. Glessner and of Franklin MacVeagh (later demolished)."


What was this La Farge designed window?  There is no other leaded glass in the house, and the Glessner journal and other documents make no mention of a La Farge window in the house, although they do mention a small painting he did for them.  Could the amber window be a La Farge, and was perhaps Donald MacDonald merely the fabricator?


A letter just unearthed in the archives appears to solve the mystery.  In a letter dated October 22, 1887, George Shepley (the architect who supervised construction of the house after the death of H. H. Richardson) tells John Glessner, "Shortly after you left I got a design from Mr. Grant LaFarge for the stained glass work in your hall which was not satisfactory, so I returned it with instructions to make another which I send you by mail today.  The design is I think very quiet and will be very successful.  I enclose with the design Mr. LaFarge's letter to me which will explain just what is intended by the drawings and in that he mentions the choice between two different kinds of clear glass, either of which I think would be saitsfactory, but I think it would be rather better to have it all jewels."  (Grant La Farge was the eldest son of John La Farge)


By November 21, 1887, John Glessner had apparently settled the matter, for in a letter of that date from George Shepley, he states "We received Mr. Bosworth's letter giving the measurements of the glass in the circular door in your hall and I will try to have the glass made as you direct.  The firm who made this glass for Mr. Richardson has gone to pieces but I will try to get what you want by sending in one of the windows and having it copied."


Finally, on December 10, 1887, Shepley writes that "We sent in one of the yellow glass windows to Donald MacDonald, a glass maker here in Boston, and he is making the light for your hall exactly like it.  We had a letter from him the other day saying he expected to have it finished in a few days."


So how did the mistake make it into the Tribune article, especially since there are several quotes directly from John La Farge.  The answer to that appears later in the article.  The reporter asks La Farge if he goes to see any of his work to which he replies, "Seldom.  You see I've made about ten thousand, and I've rather lost the run of them.  I hardly have any time to keep track of them.  I'm like Brigham Young, who, whenever he went into the streets, had to be told which were his grandchildren.  He couldn't keep tally on them himself."


So the mystery is solved.  La Farge did design a window for the house, but the design was rejected in favor of the window crafted by Donald MacDonald and installed late in 1887.