Glessner House Museum - A Top 10 List for 2012

It seems as though “Top 10” lists are all the rage these days; any number of them have surfaced as the year 2012 draws to a close.  The museum was the subject of at least two such lists during the year.  Illinois Meetings and Events magazine featured a “10 Things You Don’t Know About Glessner House Museum” in their Fall 2012 issue, focusing primarily on the site as a venue for weddings and events.  Soon after, Choose Chicago (the city’s main tourism website) featured a blog article entitled “10 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Glessner House.”

The year 2012 was one of the most exciting and successful in the museum’s history, so it seems only appropriate that we add our own Top 10 list to the mix, summarizing the highlights of an eventful and memorable year. 

1.  Of Dolls and Murder

On March 25, we celebrated the 134^th birthday of Frances Glessner Lee with the Chicago premiere of an independent film entitled “Of Dolls and Murder.”  The feature length film, narrated by John Waters, focused on legal medicine, i.e. homicide investigation, and Lee’s significant contributions to the field, including the creation of nearly 20 meticulously detailed miniature crime scenes, which she named “The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.”  Lee was appointed the first female state police captain in the U.S. in recognition of her efforts, and earned the respect of many, including Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Perry Mason novels, who attended one of the seminars she sponsored at Harvard University.

Pictured above:  “Of Dolls and Murder” producer John Kurtis Dehn and director/writer Susan Marks posing in the coach house with Frances Lee’s traveling “Nutshells” carrying case (Glessner House Museum collection). 

2.  Vintage Car Show

The 1800 block of Prairie Avenue was transformed on Sunday June 24 when nineteen vintage automobiles, all dating to 1936 or earlier, drove on to the street for a car show that attracted many hundreds of attendees.  The stunning automobiles ranged from an all brass 1910 Ford Model T to a 1936 Chrysler Airflow Coupe. A highlight of the show was the inclusion of two Pierce Arrows from the collection of Richard H. Driehaus, dating to 1927 and 1931.  (The Glessners preferred Pierce Arrows after acquiring their first model in 1906).

Pictured above:  1931 Pierce Arrow Model 41 Dual Cowl Phaeton, courtesy of Richard H. Driehaus.

3.  Pierre Boulez

On July 19, Maestro Pierre Boulez, conductor emeritus of the Chicago Symphony, and one of the most renowned conductors in the world, came to Glessner for a private tour.  He spent over an hour touring the museum with Executive Director William Tyre, who shared stories of the Glessners and their many years of support for the Chicago Symphony from the time of its founding in 1891.

Pictured above:  Maestro Boulez poses beside the Glessners’ 1887 Steinway piano in the recently restored parlor.

4.  Glessner Family Reunion

The first weekend of August served as a wonderful homecoming for the Glessner family – 26 descendants and friends gathered at the house for a three-day reunion, the first of its kind ever held at the museum.  Four generations of the family were present ranging in age from 5 to 85, including three great-grandchildren who shared memories of John Glessner from their early years.  Friday events included an opening dinner, tours of the house (several of those present had never been to Chicago before), and a presentation on the life of John Glessner.  Saturday tours included the CAF river cruise, Tiffany in Chicago, and a tour of Second Presbyterian where the Glessners’ daughter-in-law Alice Hamlin Glessner was a member.  The weekend concluded on Sunday morning with a special visit to the Glessners’ gravesite in Graceland Cemetery.

Pictured above:  Reunion attendees gather on the curved porch on Friday August 3^rd, recreating the famous view of Frances Glessner’s Monday Morning Reading Class taken in 1902.

5.  125^th Anniversary Gala Celebration

The night of September 13^th was one of the most memorable ever in the 46 year history of the Museum.  On that evening, more than 200 members, supporters, and friends of the museum gathered in the Grainger Ballroom at Symphony Center to celebrate the 125^th anniversary of the completion of Glessner House.  The event was generously underwritten by a gift from Richard H. Driehaus and netted $59,500 for restoration projects.  A highlight of the event was a presentation by Board President Rolf Achilles and Executive Director William Tyre, honoring those individuals who helped to save the house from demolition in 1966.

Pictured above:  Executive Director William Tyre (at the podium) and Board President Rolf Achilles (at far right) with the gala honorees.  Photo by Tim Walters Photography.

6.  The White City

Friday September 28 saw the production of The White City: A Musical in the “coach house theatre.”  Co-sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, the event drew more than 100 people to watch a moving musical adaptation of the dramatic story of the creation of the World’s Columbian Exposition. 

Pictured above:  John Root (portrayed by Doug Pawlik), playwright June Finfer, and Daniel Burnham (portrayed by Jon Steinhagen).

7.  Open House Chicago

Over the weekend of October 13^th and 14^th, nearly 1,700 people (the vast majority of whom had never been to the museum) were treated to tours of rarely seen spaces in the museum.  The focus of the special tours, part of the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s annual Open House Chicago, was the servants’ portion of the building.  Attendees had the opportunity to see the haylofts, dovecotes, male and female servants’ quarters, and kitchen wing.  The museum was one of several sites in the Prairie Avenue District open for tours, other sites including Clarke House, Second Presbyterian Church, the Keith House, and the Wheeler Mansion. 

Pictured above:  Dovecote facing 18^th Street over the coach house, as seen from the hayloft.

8.  Glessner House at 125 Symposium

The museum partnered with the Victorian Society in America to host a symposium celebrating the 125^th anniversary of Glessner House.  Seven speakers from across Chicago and the country gathered for the day long symposium on Saturday November 10^th which focused on H. H. Richardson, the interior decoration of the house, and its preservation in the 1960s.  The symposium was preceded by an opening reception the previous evening with Richardson-scholar Kenneth Breisch presenting a talk on the architect’s influence across America.

Pictured above:  Symposium speakers Ted Hild, Kevin Harrington, Elaine Harrington, James F. O’Gorman, and Rolf Achilles.  Not pictured Mary Alice Molloy and Monica Obniski.

9.  The John J. Simmerling Gallery of Prairie Avenue History

In October, the museum accepted an extraordinary gift from long-time supporter Jack Simmerling.  The gift consisted of an amazing collection of building fragments, artwork, photographs, and documents relating to the Prairie Avenue neighborhood collected over a period of more than 60 years.  Jack witnessed the loss of many of the houses first-hand, personally rescuing the fragments himself, and recording the houses utilizing his considerable talents as an artist.  Jamie Cook, of the architectural firm of Krueck & Sexton is working with the museum to create plans to redevelop the second floor of the coach house as a gallery to display this unique and important collection documenting the history of Chicago’s first Gold Coast.

Pictured above:  A section of wall paneling from the library of the Max Meyer house at 2009 S. Prairie Avenue, designed by Burnham & Root in 1888.  Demolished 1955. 

10.  125^th Anniversary Fund

In June 2011, the museum board established the 125^th Anniversary Fund, with the goal of raising $125,000 for restoration projects.  A generous $50,000 challenge grant from Richard H. Driehaus kick-started the fund and by December 2012, a total of $209,000 had been raised.  Numerous projects will be undertaken in the next few years including the recreation of the porte cochere doors, the restoration of the corner guestroom, the renovation of the guest bathroom, and much more.  In the fall of 2012, an additional anonymous gift in the amount of $100,000 was received by the museum to fund a new geothermal heating and air conditioning system, something that has been sorely needed for many years.

Pictured above:  The first project funded by the 125^th Anniversary Fund was the recreation of the banquette in the parlor. 

The White City - Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

On Friday September 28, 2012 at 7:00pm, the museum is proud to host a production of “The White City.”  This original musical, produced by Lost and Found Productions and playwright June Finfer, focuses on one of the most legendary events in Chicago history – the World’s Columbian Exposition.

When Chicago wins the right to host the 1893 fair, the first great fair in the United States, the architect chosen to design and build it in record time – Daniel Burnham – finds that ambition is not enough.  He needs a lot of help from even those who oppose him.  In the three-year period of construction of the mile square fairgrounds and dozens of buildings, a vast canvas of characters vie with fate, death, and love to achieve the impossible.  Original music by Elizabeth Doyle that could have been written in the Gay 90s brings color and humor to a story of “making no little plans.”  This musical explores the politics and passions behind a unique national event, in many ways the first and last of its kind.

June Finfer is an award-winning writer, and a producer of documentaries.  Her film about the architecture of Mies van der Rohe has been broadcast on A&E and PBS and won a first prize at the American Film Festival.

Pre-paid tickets are $25.00 per person and may be purchased by calling 312.326.1480.  The production will take place in the coach house of Glessner House Museum, located at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood.

John and Frances Glessner made numerous trips to the fairgrounds, which are recorded in Frances’ journal.  Daniel Burnham, the fair’s Director of Construction, was a close friend of the family, so they were given special privileges, like access to the grounds in advance of its official openings and the opportunity to visit private viewing areas. 

In a manuscript entitled “Ghosts of Yesterday,” John Glessner recalled some of the individuals who visited 1800 S. Prairie Avenue during the Fair.  We herewith present a few excerpts from that manuscript.

“Other dear and delightful friends were Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Law Olmsted.  Our families were on very intimate terms.  George and young Frederick were classmates in College (Harvard).  During the World’s Fair Mr. and Mrs. Olmsted visited us.  He was America’s first and leading landscape architect, really settled the location of the Fair and laid it out.  In many warm discussions with the architects Mr. Olmsted always kept still until everyone else had talked, and then quietly would say – ‘Why don’t you do so and so?’ and that invariably settled it.  Mrs. Olmsted was a quaint little body, wore a white lace cap built over a rather high frame and tied under her chin in a large bow knot of wide muslin strings, and was a lovely picture.”

“It was (Charles) Hutchinson, too, who first brought Sir Caspar Purden Clarke, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, possessing a great and thorough knowledge of art but never forcing his knowledge or position on one – another cultured Englishman, with all that that implies.  As he left our dining room he said to Hutchinson – ‘You ought to keep you eyes on that punch bowl.  That’s a museum piece.  You ought to have it in your Art Museum.”  (Hutchinson was the long-time president of the Art Institute of Chicago.  The Glessners purchased their silver niello punch bowl from the Siam exhibit at the close of the fair.)

“The World’s Fair brought us many pleasing experiences with men and things, both in the early days of preparation and later in the installing of exhibits and the display itself.  It brought, also, some official representatives from abroad that our authorities treated very well, better than some of them deserved.  Special attention was paid to the Spanish representative.  I think the Duke of Veragua was never in my house, but I had some small connection with his entertainment – once at a horse show on the Dunham farm at Wayne, where Arthur Caton was in charge and asked my help; and again at South Bend, where the first Clement Studebakers were entertaining the “royal” party at luncheon, where I witnessed the most marvelous exhibition of hospitality.  We went from Chicago, a train load of men.  Unfortunately the house had taken fire that morning and the roof and part of the upper storeys burned, but the Studebakers spread tarpaulins under the ceiling of the dining room and gave us a magnificent luncheon on a beautifully decorated table just as if nothing had happened or as if that was the way they always did it, while water trickled down the walls of the room and leaked through spots in the tarpaulin.  Again it was my lot to help entertain the Duke in a theater box at a play.  Perhaps my total ignorance of Spanish and his imperfect knowledge of English combined with the inanities of the play at least account partially for the lack of spontaneous hilarity that marked the evening for both of us.”

“Perhaps it was not only the Chatelain that brought these World’s Fair men to us.  There was the daughter of the house – only a child then, it is true, but good company even then.  (Fanny Glessner was 15 years old at the time of the Fair).  There was the freedom of the house, a man might come or go as he pleased, he might talk or merely listen, he might read or merely sit and contemplate; there was a willing ear to hear and a heart to sympathize in their troubles, and there were creature comforts as well – always a good Sunday supper, and as with the proverbial stage or street car, there was at table always room for one more.  This house was a haven of refuge for many, the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, and these friends brought many amusing tales.  One gay young visitor came home one day from the Fair to say that going into one building she met an elderly man coming out who apparently had no one to talk with and who was oppressed by the size of the thing and the short time at his disposal, and perhaps encouraged by her winning smile broke out with, “I can’t see the damned thing in a month.” 

“And we had the World’s Fair architects – Burnham, and John Root, before his untimely death, and Charles Follen McKim, and Robert Swain Peabody, and William R. Meade, and (John Goddard) Stearns and George B. Post, and Charles Coolidge, who built the present Art Institute for religious and other conferences during the Fair, and who restrained his impatience one night until everybody else had gone that he might tell us of his love romance that had culminated in acceptance the day before in St. Louis.”