In 1885, John Glessner, a vice-president with the International Harvester Company, struck up a friendly conversation at a dinner party with Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson. The two men shared similar taste in art and design, and by the end of the night, Richardson had a new commission. The Glessner House, at 1800 South Prairie Avenue, is the last example of the celebrated "Richardsonian Romanesque" left in the city of Chicago.
Richardson created a granite mansion that accommodated Glessner's corner site, providing the family with a house which appears as a redoubtable fortress from the street. Glessner had been attacked by an armed intruder in a previous home, and security was very much on his mind. Stone grates front the ground-floor windows, and slim openings on the side of the house recall medieval archers' slits. Yet there are welcoming signs as well. The stone tympanum over the front door bears the motif of the tree of life, while lions grin from ornament above the egg-and-dart dentil. Richardson's motif, mirrored R's, decorates the central (support) of the windows over the oak door.
Inside are rooms richly paneled in warm wood and papered in lively figures. An interior courtyard brings light into the home from the garden's southern exposure. There are books everywhere, housed in curtained bookcases, testifying to the family's love of and respect for learning. Portraits of great men hang among engravings of Old Masters, including Richardson himself and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, a family friend. Ornate picture frames and furniture throughout the house were crafted by American designer Isaac Scott. All this stimulating clutter did not care for itself, of course. A staff of ten served the family and lived in rooms on the 18th Street side. A charming Italianate balcony provided fresh air for the women's quarters. The kitchen, butler's pantry, and coachhouse give fascinating glimpses into turn-of-the-nineteenth-century life, while the built-in storage closets will cause pangs of envy in the modern apartment-dweller's heart.
Many of the home's original furnishings and decorations have been returned through the kind offices of the Glessner's granddaughter, who was reared some blocks away. The art-loving Glessners furnished the mansion with an eclectic array of European and American decorative elements, punctuated with the Asian antiquities that were popular in their day. A careful restoration of interiors, including wallpapers, carpets, and furniture, was completed several years ago.
An historic home that has been around the block a few times - literally - is Clarke House, built one year before the financial panic of 1837 in which Henry Brown Clarke lost his banking fortune. Constructed a mile and a half south of Chicago's boundary, the Greek Revival house originally stood near what is now the intersection of 17th and Michigan. Now the oldest surviving building in the city, the house was moved first to 45th and Wabash, and to its present location in 1977.
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