The John J. Glessner House, operated as the Glessner House, is an architecturally important 19th-century residence located at 1800 S.

Prairie Avenue Prairie Avenue is a north–south street on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th Street in the Near South Side to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major tra ...

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Built during the

Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...

, it was designed in 1885–1886 by architect

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

and completed in late 1887. The property was designated a

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artist ...

on October 14, 1970. The site was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on April 17, 1970, and as a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on January 7, 1976, and is maintained as a

house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

John J. Glessner

John Jacob Glessner (1843–1936) was a partner in the firm of Warder, Bushnell & Glessner, a farm machinery manufacturer headquartered in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in Clark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in southwestern Ohio along the Mad River (Ohio), Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, about west of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus and northeast of ...

. Immediately after his marriage in 1870 to Frances Macbeth, Glessner relocated to Chicago where he opened a branch office. In 1902, the firm and four others, including firms controlled by

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...

, Cyrus McCormick, and James Deering, merged to form International Harvester (now known as Navistar International Corporation), which became the fourth largest corporation in the country. Glessner was appointed vice president and continued in that capacity for many years. He died in 1936 at the age of 92. John Glessner was the father of two children; his son George died as a young man and his daughter became the forensic scientist Frances Glessner Lee. During the late 19th century, Chicago's most prestigious residential street was Prairie Avenue on the Neighborhoods of Chicago, South Side. Enjoying economic success, Glessner decided to build a home for his family on Prairie Avenue and 18th Street. He chose one of the young nation's foremost architects, Henry Hobson Richardson, H. H. Richardson.

Henry Hobson Richardson

Eager to develop a style of architecture that would reflect what he saw as the musculature of the fast-growing United States, the late-19th-century architect Henry Hobson Richardson developed what would be called the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The Richardsonian Romanesque style took elements of European Romanesque architecture from buildings constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries, and adapted them to American idioms. For example, the heavy, rough-cut facing stones of Romanesque architecture were no longer necessary for engineering reasons. Architects and builders had discovered more efficient ways for walls to distribute and bear a building's weight. Richardson believed that what was no longer necessary for function could be made to serve a new purpose of form, by creating a new visual language of individual separation and privacy. The Glessner residence was Richardson's last work; he died three weeks after completion at the age of 48.

The significance of the Glessner House

The innovative floor plan and design of the Glessner house rank it as one of the most important residential commissions of the 19th century. The walls of the house are pushed close to the lot lines, allowing for a spacious private courtyard within. The courtyard allowed abundant natural light to enter the main rooms of the house through south-facing windows, and also provided a level of privacy rarely achieved in urban residences. Additionally, a long Servants' hall, servant hall is placed along the north side of the house, buffering the family spaces from the noise and dirt of 18th Street as well as the brutal winter winds. The exterior of the house is clad in Braggville, Massachusetts, Braggville granite, laid in courses of various heights, giving the house a strong horizontal appearance. Ornamentation is minimal, and includes an arch of stylized foliage over the front entrance and a series of carved capitals on the second floor columns. The design was distinctly different from the other houses on Prairie Avenue, and many neighbors did not understand it. Sleeping-car CEO George Pullman, who lived across the street in a traditional Second Empire architecture in the United States and Canada, Second Empire mansion, said, "I do not know what I have ever done to have that thing staring me in the face every time I go out of my door."

Later history

After John Glessner died in 1936, the house was given to the American Institute of Architects, who returned it to the family when they decided they could not afford the upkeep necessary. In 1937, the family deeded the house to the Armour Institute (precursor to the present day Illinois Institute of Technology). In 1945 the Institute leased the house to the Lithographic Technical Foundation, which installed large printing presses in many of the rooms and conducted research for the printing industry. When the Foundation moved to Pittsburgh in the early 1960s, the house was threatened with demolition. The Chicago Architecture Foundation was founded in 1966 as the Chicago School of Architecture Foundation in order to save Glessner House. Eventually a group of architects – including Philip Johnson, Ben Weese and Harry Weese – and preservation-minded citizens banded together to save the house, and purchased it in 1966 for just $35,000. Within a few years, the Glessner descendants began returning original furnishings.

The Glessner House today

The house opened for public tours in 1971. It has been maintained with the help of admission fees and substantial private donations from individuals and foundations including the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, the Tawani Foundation, and the Francis Beidler Foundation. Many of the rooms have been accurately restored to their original appearance. The collection of decorative objects and furnishings is especially significant, as the Glessners were sophisticated collectors of both English and American arts and crafts. Objects and furniture by William Morris, William De Morgan, Émile Gallé, Isaac Scott, A. H. Davenport and Company, A.H. Davenport and others are found throughout the house. The Glessner House Museum, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, was formed in 1994 to administer the property; it operates under the name Glessner House. Several thousand people visit the site annually for tours and programs.

John J. Glessner

Henry Hobson Richardson

The significance of the Glessner House

Later history

The Glessner House today

See also

References

External links