William Morris and Glessner House - Part III

The use of a wide range of products from Morris & Co., selected by Frances Glessner to decorate her new home in 1887, is an essential factor when considering her design aesthetic. Surviving photos of the Glessners’ previous home show no evidence of Morris’s products being used there, despite her awareness and interest in Morris as early as 1883. As such, Morris & Co. became a virtual partner with Richardson – the architecture and interior furnishings complementing and enriching each other to form a unified whole. This was a basic concept that Frances Glessner and H. H. Richardson both read about in Morris’s writings on architecture just a few years before Glessner house came into being.

In this third and final installment of our series on William Morris and Glessner House, we will explore the range of products used throughout the house. There are far too many to explore in a single article; instead, we will look at one example of each of the major categories of items produced by Morris & Co. - wallpapers, textiles, and carpets.

Wallpapers

Perhaps no product line of Morris & Co. is more associated with the name of William Morris to this day than wallpaper. Morris introduced his first designs in the early 1860s, a period in which wallpaper was almost universal in the homes of all who could afford it. Although Morris’s wallpapers were printed using the traditional wood-block process, the designs themselves were far from traditional and marked a gradual shift away from the French realistic papers to those categorized as “reform” papers. At the same time, Morris helped to elevate the status of English wallpapers to one of international prominence, and he directly influenced other designers to the point where the term “Morrisonian” was used to describe all wallpapers created in “his” style.

A total of seven Morris wallpaper designs were used at Glessner house. Upon completion of the house in 1887, both guestrooms as well as the bedrooms of George and Fanny, were all papered with Morris designs. Installation of electrical wiring in 1892 resulted in all the rooms being repapered, with the two guestrooms receiving different Morris designs, in both cases ones that were much lighter in color. At the same time, the Glessners’ bedroom, originally decorated with a non-Morris paper, received its Morris wallpaper. After that, when the rooms were repapered, the same Morris pattern was always reused. The wallpapers were acquired through the Chicago-based decorating firm of John J. McGrath, which began carrying Morris & Co. wallpapers as early as 1876. 

Of particular interest is the Double Bough wallpaper, installed in the corner guestroom after the electrical wiring project was completed. Although several people created wallpaper designs for Morris & Co., this particular pattern is attributed to William Morris himself, and dates to 1890. This date is interesting because the wallpaper would not have been available when Glessner house was completed in 1887 but was available when the repapering was undertaken. This might explain its sudden appearance – Frances Glessner saw the new design, liked it, and found a way to work it into her home. It was used again when the room was repapered in 1916.

In 2010, when the room was being readied for restoration, a large piece of the Double Bough wallpaper was found behind vinyl wallcovering installed in the early 1970s. It was carefully removed from the walls by historic finishes expert Robert Furhoff and preserved. The fragment was of great value as it verified the colorway of the wallpaper. As was the case with most Morris & Co. wallpapers, Double Bough was offered in several colorways, and since the historic photos are all black and white, a surviving fragment is essential to recreate the wallpaper correctly. 

The complete set of carved wood blocks was on hand at the Morris archives in England and were used to print the current paper, installed in 2015. The process was laborious, as the paper must be given time to dry in between the application of each block. For this particular design, 21 blocks were needed; some designs required as many as 30.

Today, four of the five bedrooms feature exact copies of their Morris & Co. wallpapers – Double Bough and Arcadia in the guestrooms, and Poppy and Blossom in the children’s bedrooms.

Textiles

Textiles represented a huge category of products for Morris & Co. including everything from woven woolens and printed cottons used for draperies and upholstery, to embroidered textiles and tapestries. Historic photographs of Glessner house show no less than nine rooms that featured at least one Morris textile, often used for draperies and portieres, but also for upholstered furniture and bed coverings. Fanny’s bedroom, for example, just reopened after an extensive restoration, features different Morris & Co. textiles for the draperies, upholstery, and embroidered bed covering. 

Perhaps the most widely used textile in the house is one that is often overlooked. Known as Utrecht Velvet, the stamped woolen plush fabric appears in historic photos covering chairs in the library and upper hall, and on the davenport sofas in both the library and the schoolroom (after its conversion to a sitting room). Developed in about 1871, it is based on stamped velvets first produced during the 17^th- and 18^th-centuries in the Low Countries. The monochromatic design consisted of a bold, stylized pattern of flowers and foliage, the repeat being 26 inches in diameter.

Unlike many of the Morris & Co. textiles, it was not actually produced by the firm, but was contracted out to a firm that produced woolen goods. It was available in at least fourteen colorways. The surviving example of Utrecht Velvet can be found on the seats of a pair of Chippendale style side chairs in the second-floor hall, attributed to A. H. Davenport & Co. It was produced in a rich red color, although it is believed that a green version of the fabric was used in the library. (Fun fact: The fabric remained popular well after the turn of the 20^th century and was used as a wallcovering for at least one of the first-class cabins on the R.M.S. Titanic).

Reproductions of Morris & Co. textiles can currently be found in the main hall (both levels), library, parlor, and four of the five bedrooms. An original pair of drapery panels in the Cross Twigs design is stored in the archives, the exact location of its use in the house has not been determined.

Carpets

Morris & Co. produced numerous carpet designs through the years which can be divided into two categories – machine-woven and hand-knotted. Although Morris generally eschewed the use of the machine, he started designing an extensive line of machine-woven carpets in 1876; several can be seen in the historic photos of Glessner house. In 2013, one of his earliest and most popular machine-woven carpets, Lily, was reproduced and reinstalled in its original location on the main entry stairs leading up to the main hall from the front door.

It is the hand-knotted Hammersmith rug in the main hall itself that is most worthy of note. Frances Glessner wrote about its selection in a journal entry recording the arrival of architect Charles Coolidge on April 19, 1887:

“Tuesday Mr. Coolidge came. He and John spent the morning at the house and came home late to lunch. We spent the afternoon at Field’s looking over rugs and hangings – we selected for the parlor and hall – Morris rug and hangings for the hall, and Morris silks for the parlor. Mr. C. was enthusiastic over our Morris rug. In the evening we talked furnishings and showed him all the things we have gathered up for the house.”

The hand-knotted carpets were extremely labor intensive to produce, and were therefore very costly, so Coolidge’s enthusiasm over the rug is no surprise. An advertisement in the Chicago Tribune that same year promoted the rug department at Marshall Field & Co., considered one of the best in the country. The advertisement specifically noted that Field’s had an exclusive contract “for the entire West” for the “wonderous Hammersmith rugs designed and made under the personal supervision of William Morris.” 

Morris was an expert on, and collector of, rugs from Persia, Turkey, and China, advising the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria & Albert) on acquisitions, and offering advice to Richardson on a carpet during their meeting in 1882. The carpet produced for the Glessners is very similar to one that Morris designed about 1883 for Swan House, the London home of Wickham Flower, a prominent solicitor. It is based on a typical 17^th-century Persian medallion carpet and features a broad border of stylized palmettes, inspired by 16^th- and 17^th-century Turkish cut velvets, of which Morris would have also been familiar.

The original carpet, which measures nearly 11’ x 15.5’, was donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1974 by the Glessners’ granddaughter, Martha Batchelder. A close approximation of the original, assembled from machine made carpeting replicating both the field and border, was installed in the main hall in 2014.

This concludes our three-part series on William Morris and the significant presence of his designs at Glessner House. There is much to see, we hope you will visit soon!

William Morris and Glessner House - Part II

Frances Glessner was a faithful customer of the Chicago merchant John J. McGrath, whose firm provided the finest wallpapers in the city. By 1876, he also served as the exclusive agent for Morris & Co. in the United States. While shopping for her Washington Street house, Frances Glessner would have no doubt seen Morris’s wallpaper designs, but there is no indication she considered any of these papers until the early 1880s.

On March 6, 1883, Frances Glessner noted in her journal that she attended a meeting of the Decorative Art Society, where she found a discussion of William Morris and his designs most interesting. Within days, she purchased a copy of Morris’s 1882 Hopes and Fears for Art, and less than a week later had finished reading it.

Before March drew to a close, she recorded the following:
“I took Mrs. Avery down to McGrath’s to see Wm. Morris designs in materials for furnishing. We had a delightful morning. I selected a lovely combination for The Rocks, but it is too expensive.”

A surviving scrapbook from The Rocks, recording the various wallpapers and fabrics used in the main house, shows some beautiful and dramatic designs, but none of them are by Morris & Co., so the cost obstacle was not overcome – at that time.

Hopes and Fears for Art

This small volume, published concurrently in both the United Kingdom and the United States, contains five lecture Morris delivered in Birmingham, London, and Nottingham between 1878 and 1881. The five lectures are titled:

The Lesser Arts
The Art of the People
The Beauty of Life
Making the Best of it
The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization

As noted in our previous article, Morris had strong views on a variety of subjects, and those views are expressed clearly in these lectures. Topics range from the value of handicraft to the evils of industrialization, as well as his thoughts on architecture and historic preservation.

An advertisement for the book (priced as $1.25), published in the Chicago Tribune on February 24, 1882, provided the following quote from “an artist”:

“Is not this book the greatest on Art since ‘Modern Painters?’ The same spirit pervades it, that of the reformer profoundly moved by his mission. It is esthetic – strong drink and food too for the upper classes. How will they accept the principle that luxury is the deadly enemy of Art: that the greater part of their artistic surroundings might well make a bonfire? He writes as one who knows, and his style is superb.”

A review published the next month provided another hearty endorsement:

“’Real art,’ says Mr. Morris, ‘is the expression by man of his pleasure in labor’ – an excellent definition, practical and easily understood. Mr. Morris is well known as a poet, but he is also a hard worker. Whatever he says about ‘art’ is the result of careful consideration, earnest thought, and personal experience, and is therefore entitled to an attentive hearing. The present volume is untechnical and adapted to general use and is commended as worthy the man who wrote it, and as likely to be of great service to the man who reads it.”

One of the most beautifully written passages in the work is the closing paragraph of his lecture, “The Beauty of Life,” where Morris discusses his Cause (with a capital C):

“So to us who have a Cause at heart, our highest ambition and our simplest duty are one and the same thing: for the most part we shall be too busy doing the work that lies ready to our hands, to let impatience for visibly great progress vex us much; but surely since we are servants of a Cause, hope must be ever with us, and sometimes perhaps it will so quicken our vision that it will out-run the slow lapse of time, and show us the victorious days when millions of those who now sit in darkness will be enlightened by an Art made by the people and for the people, a joy to the maker and the user.”

Henry Hobson Richardson and William Morris

When the Glessners met Richardson in 1885, the architect was an enthusiastic supporter of Morris’s work. This admiration was strengthened in 1882, when Richardson made his last trip to Europe and spent time with Morris. Surviving records of the trip note that Richardson visited the Morris & Co. works at Merton Abbey, and he was entertained at the Morris home in Kelmscott. Morris even advised Richardson on a Persian carpet which Richardson acquired for his faithful client, Frederick Ames, in North Easton, Massachusetts.

The year 1882 also saw Morris & Co. commissioned to design and manufacture four stained glass windows for Richardson’s Trinity Church in Boston, his acknowledged masterpiece. Designed by Edward Burne-Jones, three of the windows show scenes of the Nativity, while the fourth window depicts “David’s Charge to Solomon.” There is literally a bit of Morris depicted in this last window. In the upper right-hand corner, the famous story of David and Goliath is depicted, and the head of Goliath being held in David’s right hand is none other than that of William Morris!

In September 1885, the Glessners visited Richardson at his home and studio in Brookline, Massachusetts and they gathered in his library to review their house plans. John Glessner noted that “this was the room I liked best” so it is no surprise the design of the Glessners’ library borrows heavily from this room. Amongst the books, “rare and beautiful objects . . . and lovely articles of vertu” could be found textiles from Morris & Co. 

These included the portieres hung in the alcoves to either side of the fireplace. The pattern was “Peacock & Dragon,” the same pattern the Glessners later selected for the drapes and portieres in the first-floor main hall.

At left: detail showing the alcove and portieres in Richardson's library.

At right: Peacock & Dragon by Morris & Co.

It is interesting to note that one of the items Richardson purchased during his 1882 visit to England was a copy of Morris’s book, Hopes and Fears for Art, the same book Frances Glessner read in 1883. Richardson would have been especially interested in the final lecture in the volume, “The Prospects of Architecture in Civilization,” where Morris shared his views on architecture and its relationship to the decorative arts. The lecture begins:

“The word Architecture has, I suppose, to most of you the meaning of the art of building nobly and ornamentally.  Now, I believe the practice of this art to be one of the most important things which man can turn his hand to, and the consideration of it to be worth the attention of serious people, not for an hour only, but for a good part of their lives, even though they may not have to do with it professionally.

“But, noble as that art is by itself, and though it is specially the art of civilization, it neither ever has existed nor ever can exist alive and progressive by itself, but must cherish and be cherished by all the crafts whereby men make the things which they intend shall be beautiful, and shall last somewhat beyond the passing day.

“It is this union of the arts, mutually helpful and harmoniously subordinated one to another, which I have learned to think of as Architecture.”

Conclusion

By the time the Glessners engaged H. H. Richardson to design their Prairie Avenue home in 1885, both Frances Glessner and Richardson had read William Morris’s influential volume, Hopes and Fears for Art. This shared interest in, and appreciation for, Morris’s thoughts on art and decorating, helps to explain the excellent architect-client relationship that quickly developed, and why so many Morris & Co. products were ultimately selected to furnish the Glessners’ new home.

In the last installment of this series, we will explore some of the Morris & Co. wallpapers, textiles, rugs, and embroideries that were selected by the Glessners, many of which can still be seen in the house today.

Preservation Month Part IV - The Parlor

Parlor, 2012 (photo by James Caulfield)

During Preservation Month 2020, we have explored each of the first-floor public rooms, looking at the history of the spaces, their use after the house passed out of the Glessner family, and the restoration work undertaken to return the rooms to their late 19^th-century appearance. Our final article looks at the parlor, a recent project, and one of the most extensive ever undertaken.

Parlor, 1923 (photo by Kaufmann & Fabry)

Whereas the library was the room most utilized by the family for their quiet moments together, the parlor was specifically designed for entertaining friends and special guests. Additionally, its intended use for musical performances is reinforced by the fact that the ceiling lacks the beams seen in the other first-floor rooms, and is also nearly one foot lower in height, both details improving the acoustics.

Parlor, 1888 (photo by Absalom D. Edgeworth)

The three large windows facing south into the courtyard are the most fully realized expression of Richardson’s innovative plan to turn the public rooms away from the street. Not only do the windows admit the maximum light and warmth from the sun, (most welcome on the wintery days when the family was in residence), they also look out into a fully-enclosed space, thus providing an unusual level of privacy that was rare in an urban residence.

The entrances into the parlor are oriented to heighten the intimate feel of the space. A pair of doorways from the main hall flank the central fireplace on the east wall. On the west wall, a single central doorway leads to the dining room. With this arrangement, the long vista common in many large homes, designed to emphasize the spaciousness of the house, is broken, creating a space complete unto itself, and not simply part of a progression of rooms.

Parlor, 1888 (photo by Absalom D. Edgeworth)

The fireplace features finely carved detailing beneath the mantel shelf, utilizing the acanthus leaf motif seen elsewhere on both the exterior and interior of the house. Richly colored Siena marble, in soft yellow and rose tones, compliments the pale-yellow tiles of the fire back which measure six inches long but only one-half inch in height. The tiles were designed by the English firm of Craven Dunnill & Co. which also designed the tiles for George’s fireplace and the floor in the entry vestibule.

Craven Dunnill & Co. tiles in fireplace

A similar color palette was utilized in the window draperies and the portieres in the doorway to the dining room, a Morris & Co. pattern known as Kennet. The two doorways to the main hall featured elaborately embroidered portieres of another Morris design, which Frances Glessner had stitched by women at the Chicago Society of Decorative Art and delivered to the house in November 1888. (In 1918, the Glessners donated these portieres to the Art Institute of Chicago and one panel remains in the collection although it is not currently on display).

Embroidered Morris & Co. portiere (Courtesy of the Art Institute)

The walls of the parlor are framed with a simple broad trim that connect the baseboards to the picture rails up above; the same trim is used around the windows. The original wall treatment was a floral wallpaper executed in various shades of yellow, as determined by analyzing small fragments uncovered by finishes analyst Robert Furhoff in 1984. The source of the wallpaper is unknown, and it is not a Morris & Co. design. 

Original wallpaper and color palette

Following the installation of electricity in 1892, the room was redecorated with a richly colored burlap wallcovering executed by the English designer William Pretyman. At the same time, various portions of the wood trim, including the cove moldings, were covered with gold leaf, to coordinate with the metallic paints and glazes used in the wallcovering.

Parlor, 1923 (photo by Kaufmann & Fabry)

The last major change made to the room took place in 1904, when the Glessners purchased new shades for the wall sconces, selected while spending the winter in Santa Barbara, California on account of Frances Glessner’s health. The shades chosen were designed as six-petaled flowers, each petal being made from an abalone shell. The incredibly rich colors of these shades when illuminated, combined with the coloring of the wallcovering, must have been truly enchanting.

Surviving abalone shell shade illuminated

The parlor was utilized for all formal entertaining, and its size reflects the Glessners preference for smaller gatherings, where they could easily interact with all their guests. When larger musical entertainments were held, furniture could be removed and additional seats added, extending into the main hall if necessary. On a few occasions, such as the full sit-down dinners held for the symphony orchestra, the 900-pound Steinway piano was moved out of the room as well!

An interesting photo of the parlor was taken on March 31, 1938, the day that Armour Institute took possession of the house. The Glessners’ original six-foot-wide dining room table, and several chairs, are seen being used by members of the Armour faculty. It is the best surviving picture of the dining room table, which was sold off in the mid-1960s; its present whereabouts are unknown. The photo also reveals the faded condition of the Pretyman wallcovering, which helps explain why it was painted over soon after.

Armour faculty in the parlor, seated around the Glessners' original dining room table (photo by Foto-Ad Studio)

When the Lithographic Technical Foundation moved into the house in 1945, the parlor was converted to use as a research laboratory, like the adjacent dining room. The north doorway to the main hall was closed off to accommodate an alcove for a large light box, and the oak floors were covered in linoleum.

Research laboratory, 1946 (photo by Hedrich Blessing)

After the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation took possession of the house, the parlor and dining room were renovated for use as exhibition galleries. As the original sconces were missing, track lighting was added to the room, and the walls were painted white, the original picture rail being utilized to display exhibit panels and artwork.

Installing the 1973 Arts & Crafts exhibition

By 1974, the process of converting the parlor to a more accurately restored room was begun with the removal of the track lighting and the recreation of period light fixtures. These were based on the original sconces used in the second-floor main hall and were later replaced by more accurate sconces in 1983, complete with reproductions of the original hand-blown glass shades. The parlor was used to display original Glessner furniture, decorative arts, and steel engravings in Isaac Scott designed frames, although not necessarily as the Glessners originally displayed them.

Parlor, circa 1974

A major change to the parlor took place in 1979, when the original custom-made Steinway piano was returned to the house, a generous gift of Gardner Cowles, publisher of numerous newspapers and Look magazine. During a visit to the house, Cowles learned that the original piano was in the president’s house at Harvard University, where he sat on the board of trustees. He purchased and donated a new Steinway to Harvard, and the original Glessner piano was released and returned to its original home. It was dedicated at a concert in April 1980 with a recital by Etsko Tazaki, a protégé of Sir Georg Solti, who attended the celebration with his wife, Lady Valerie Solti.

Sir Georg and Lady Solti at the piano dedication, April 1980

Although the original Pretyman wallcovering had been painted over numerous times, a small unpainted section had survived behind the back plate of one of the wall sconces. In 1991, this sample was analyzed by Grammar of Ornament, a Denver-based firm that specializes in the restoration of historic interiors. A sample section was prepared and placed above the picture rail on the west wall. For the next twenty years, plans of being able to recreate the wallcovering remained a dream.

Surviving section of unnpainted Pretyman wallcovering

Pretyman wallcovering sample created in 1991

In June 2009, long-time docent Aileen Mandel (class of 1986) passed away. Having provided a generous gift for the restoration of the parlor shortly before her death, her three children generously directed memorials to the project, providing seed money for the recreation of the wallcovering. Less than a year later, in May 2010, Bunny Selig, a member of the first docent class of 1971, died, leaving a generous bequest to Glessner House, along with a second gift in honor of fellow 1971 docent class member Robert Irving. Selig, who minced no words, often noted during her tours that “Mrs. Glessner would be mortified to see her parlor looking like this,” a reference to the pale “Campbell’s tomato soup” orange walls and bare windows. The Mandel and Selig gifts, combined with a grant from the Driehaus Foundation and other gifts, allowed the long-awaited restoration of the parlor to begin.

Parlor prior to restoration, February 2011

Grammar of Ornament was engaged to recreate the wallcovering, utilizing a canvas that had the same texture as the original burlap. New technology allowed for a deeper analysis of the Pretyman-designed original, revealing eight layers of metallic paints and glazes, which were painstakingly replicated, using two stencils highlighted with hand-painted details. The wallcovering was installed over three days in early October 2011.

Reproduction wallcovering in production, 2011

Touching up seams during October 2011 installation

Prior to this, the original wallcovering had been carefully removed, labeled, and stored, for future analysis and study. Lee Redmond Restorations made the necessary repairs to the wood finishes and gold leaf trim that had been obscured by paint through the years.

One of the original Kennet drapery panels had been donated to the Art Institute in the 1970s. It was pulled from storage so that the original colors could be determined. That information was then sent to Trustworth Studios in Plymouth, Massachusetts where a digital version was created and printed onto fabric, closely replicating the original appearance. Appropriate tiebacks and fringe were obtained, and brass tieback hooks were installed utilizing the same screw holes as had been used for the originals. John LaMonica replicated the drapery rod brackets, which were also reinstalled into their original screw holes.

Original Kennet panel (Courtesy of the Art Institute)

The ample 10-foot-long banquette, which originally sat in front of the windows, had been discarded by the Glessners in 1905, when John Glessner inherited his parents’ sofa. An analysis of two photographs of the parlor, taken in 1888 by Absalom D. Edgeworth, provided detailed information, allowing for an accurate reproduction of the banquette, down to the number of tufts in the seat, the height of the fringe, and the size and design of the pillows. Bob Furhoff designed the piece and advised on color and fabric. This work was undertaken by Fine Woodworks and G&A Upholstery.  (Note: I remember the day Scott Chambers from Fine Woodworks called to make sure the banquette would fit through the front door, to which I replied that the front door was big enough for H. H. Richardson to fit through! He didn’t get the joke, so I assured him the banquette would fit).

Banquette, 2012 (photo by James Caulfield)

The parlor was dedicated at a great celebration and ribbon-cutting held on October 14, 2011. Aileen Mandel’s three children cut a teal ribbon on one of the two main hall doors leading the parlor, the color symbolizing her courageous battle with ovarian cancer. Members of Bunny Selig’s family cut a purple ribbon at the other door, purple being the only color Bunny wore for the last several decades of her life. Guests were treated to an illustrated lecture on the life and career of decorator William Pretyman, given by docent John Waters.

Aileen Mandel's children at the ribbon-cutting, October 14, 2011

Today, the parlor is a fitting tribute to these two docents, who devoted countless hours sharing their passion for Glessner House and its family with countless visitors. The work of numerous craftsmen to restore each element of the room allows those visitors to experience the space exactly as intended, as though they had been invited by the Glessners for an evening of conversation and music.

Parlor, 2012 (photo by James Caulfield)

Preservation Month Part II - The Main Hall

Main hall, 2018 (Photo by James Caulfield)

During Preservation Month 2020, we are exploring four of the main rooms at Glessner House, examining the history of the spaces, their reuse after the Glessner occupancy ended in 1936, and most importantly, an overview of the restoration work undertaken to return them to their original appearance. The focus will be on the architecture and decoration of the rooms, with less emphasis on the furnishings and decorative arts.

Earliest known image of the main hall, 1888 (Photo by George Glessner)

This week we look at the main hall, a critically important space within the house, as it was the first room guests would see upon their arrival. The ground level entrance of the house, unique on Prairie Avenue, resulted in guests experiencing the main hall differently than in other homes, as it slowly revealed itself as the guests ascended the interior stairs to the first floor. The warm tones of the quarter sawn red oak paneled walls, combined with the richly colored and patterned Morris & Co. rugs and textiles, immediately conveyed the “cozy” feeling Frances Glessner requested of H. H. Richardson.

Main hall, 1923 (Photo by Kaufmann & Fabry)

Directly ahead of the stairs, a curved wall subtly directed guests to the right, the location of the parlor and dining room. The curved wall is centered by a door which leads to a porch in the courtyard. The only leaded glass window in the house is found in that door, where a simple grid of clear chipped glass squares is backed by yellow glass. In late afternoon, the effect of the sunlight hitting the irregular facets of the chipped glass is absolutely stunning.

Detail of leaded glass window; there are 230 pieces of chipped glass in total

A large wood-burning fireplace is flanked by entrances into the parlor. The Glessners believed strongly in the hearth as a symbol of hospitality and that idea is well conveyed in the early sketch Richardson did of the main hall, although the shield and crossed swords above the fireplace would not have been to the Glessners’ tastes. 

Rendering of the main hall, 1885 (Office of H. H. Richardson)

The detailing of the fireplace, which has no mantel, features Classical details found elsewhere in the house including dentil, bead, and egg-and-dart motifs. The fireplace is faced in dramatic African rose marble, a type of Breccia stone which features broken fragments naturally cemented together with a fine-grained matrix. The hearth stone is a lighter colored Bois de Orient marble.

Fireplace detail, 1987 (Photo by Hedrich Blessing)

Adjacent spaces, including the schoolroom, library, master bedroom hallway, and parlor, can be closed off from the main hall with either pocket doors, regular doors, or portieres, an important consideration for a winter residence where Chicago’s cold winds could find their way into the hall. Above the front door, a cork alcove (accessed from the library) provided cork walls where the Glessners tacked up prints and drawings. The idea was based on Richardson’s own bedroom, which also had cork walls, so that he could tack up his architectural drawings and view them when confined to bed during frequent illnesses. Other secondary spaces off the hall include a guest bathroom and a small closet under the main stairs, which measures just four feet in height, and was most likely used to store tools and wood for the hall and parlor fireplaces.

Cork alcove, 1923 (Photo by Kaufmann & Fabry)

The most dramatic feature in the hall is the broad staircase leading up to the second floor. Restraint of detail and an acknowledgement of Colonial interiors result in a simple but beautifully detailed newel post and balusters in five designs, the full series repeating once on each stair tread. The balusters are loosely based on those that the Glessners saw in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s house in Cambridge; that house had been built in 1759 for John Vassall.

Newel post, 2018 (Photo by Sheri Sparks)

Stair balusters about 1970 (Photo by Richard Nickel)

Richardson’s portrait, a heliotype copy of the Herkomer portrait completed shortly before Richardson’s death, has always occupied a place of honor by the stairway. It is the only portrait that the Glessners displayed in the hall, signifying the high esteem in which they held their architect. When the Glessners later made arrangements to deed the house to the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, a stipulation required the AIA to always keep Richardson’s portrait on display.

Richardson's portrait, 1923 (Photo by Kaufmann & Fabry)

The only significant change made to the hall during the Glessners’ occupancy related to the beamed ceiling. Richardson’s plan called for two heavy timber beams oriented east-west, with one north-south beam alongside the opening for the stair. For unknown reasons, this was altered, and the north-south beam was extended, cutting one of the east-west beams in two. The result was that the floor above sagged nearly two inches, requiring it to be shored up. At this point, the Glessners added substantial iron brackets at the intersection of all the ceiling beams, and the deflection ceased.

The main hall has remained a place to welcome and gather guests throughout its post-Glessner history. A photograph taken in 1946, during occupancy by the Lithographic Technical Foundation, shows a reception desk set up in front of the curved wall, where the receptionist would have had a clear view of the main door. This photo also gives a good sense of original lighter color of the oak paneled walls.

Lithographic Technical Foundation reception hall, 1946
(Photo by Hedrich Blessing)

Cork alcove, 1948 with a spinet piano in place!
(Photo by Robert Florian)

When the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation acquired the house in 1966, all the plaster walls and ceilings on the first floor had been painted mustard yellow. An architecture student at the University of Illinois – Circle Campus, repainted most of the first-floor rooms to an off-white color the next year.

Main hall, 1965 (Photo by Richard Nickel)

Virtually all the original light fixtures in the house were stolen during the period when the house stood empty in 1966. Details visible in historic photographs allowed for an accurate replication of the unique sconces in the hall, and the first step toward restoration of the hall involved recreating the three-arm sconces over the front stairs by early 1972; several more were made later that year in response to a fundraising campaign where people could fund a sconce for $85. (The final sconces, in the cork alcove, were not installed until 1989).

Reproduction fixture, 1972 (Photo by Richard Nickel)

Another early project involved replicating the elaborate turned balusters, many of which had been lost through the years. In 1973, Olga Valenta came to visit the house with her daughter’s school class. A fifth-generation cabinetmaker whose family started their work in the court of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, Olga, and her husband Joe, recreated several balusters; many more were made over the next decade.

The 1973 Arts & Crafts exhibition filled the main hall, parlor and dining room
(Photo by Thomas Yanul)

As noted earlier, the color of the oak paneling was originally much lighter throughout the main hall. The Glessner servants would have regularly oiled the wood to maintain its low gloss finish. However, in the decades following, the wood was not properly maintained, resulting in dangerously dried out wood with little original finish left intact. Subsequent oiling of the raw wood and the attraction of soil to the surface resulted in a much darker color than originally intended. Preservation architect Wilbert Hasbrouck undertook some work on the paneling in the mid-1970s to improve the overall appearance, but a full-scale restoration was beyond available resources.

The deteriorated condition of the curved door was addressed in 1976 when it was rebuilt using a combination of original and remade components. George Dark was hired to repair the leaded glass window. During transport, the window was dropped, resulting the loss of several pieces of the original light amber glass. The replacement glass is slightly darker in color, making it distinguishable from the original.

A major change to the hall occurred in 1984, when the Mohasco Corporation (Mohawk Carpet) donated carpeting that was based on the design of the original Morris & Co. Hammersmith rug used by the Glessners in the main hall. Wall-to-wall carpet was installed in the first and second floor halls and on both stairways; large area rugs were also made for the parlor and dining room. The work was coordinated by Mary Baim, president of Plywood Minnesota of Illinois.

The main hall in 1987 after installation of the Mohawk carpeting
(Photo by Hedrich Blessing)

Another significant change took place in 1987 when the walls and ceilings were repainted their historic colors – a deep orange/red for the walls and a light yellow for the ceilings – based on a color analysis undertaken in 1984 by Robert Furhoff. It was the first of many projects undertaken by Furhoff to establish original colors and finishes for an accurate restoration of interiors throughout the house.

The occasion of the 125^th anniversary of the completion of the house in 2012 resulted in two projects being brought to fruition. The first was to complete the wall sconces, which had been designed without the “spider” brackets needed to hold the correct glass shades. The spiders were fabricated by John LaMonica. Reproductions of the original Murano glass shades, ordered by curator Jethro Hurt in 1979 from Salviati & Company in Venice, Italy, were finally installed after sitting in storage for 33 years.

Reproduction shade by Salviati

The second project involved recreating the Morris & Co. “Peacock & Dragon” drapes and portieres, working with Sanderson (the company which reproduced the fabric), and utilizing a generous donation from long-time docent Allan Vagner and his wife Angie.

The portieres at the north end of the hall concealed the entrances to the guest bathroom and servants' hallway

The next year saw the installation of the beautiful Morris & Co. “Lily” carpet on the front stairs, a generous donation from Robert Furhoff. Produced by Grosvenor Wilton in England, the carpet is an exact copy of the original, including the border which was recreated from historic photos by John Burrows.

Front stairs with "Lily" carpet installed, 2018
(Photo by James Caulfield)

The final restoration work in the main hall took place in 2014 when all the wall-to-wall carpet was torn up and the floors hand stripped and refinished by Lee Redmond Restorations, funded by gifts received in memory of long-time docent Wilma Growney. Sections of the carpeting were used to recreate a close approximation of the Hammersmith rug (the original of which is now in the collection of the Art Institute).

Floors in process of being hand stripped, 2014

Today, visitors experience the main hall just as they would have more than a century ago, its careful restoration returning those features that still convey Frances Glessner’s desire for a cozy and welcoming space.

Main hall, 2018 (Photo by James Caulfield)