A National Historic Landmark, Glessner House was designed by noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in 1887. It remains an internationally-known architectural treasure in Chicago. A radical departure from traditional Victorian architecture, the structure served as an inspiration to the young Frank Lloyd Wright and helped redefine domestic architecture.
Interpretation
Glessner House Museum offers guided tours, lectures, and other special programs to interpret the themes of art, architecture, and social history which are inherent in Glessner House, the museum’s collections, and the stories of its residents and neighbors during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Collection
As one of the country’s premier sites for the study and enjoyment of decorative arts, Glessner House Museum offers both the casual visitor and the serious connoisseur a unique opportunity to partake in the pleasures of the Aesthetic and English Arts and Crafts movements. The museum’s conservation of the Glessners’ remarkable collection of objects provides today’s collector with a living workshop from which to take guidance.
Programming
Glessner House Museum helps illuminate the present by bringing the past to life with a wealth of subjects to study, present, dramatize, and celebrate—from the glamour of the Gilded Age, to the vast changes that transformed the Prairie Avenue neighborhood in the first decades of the 20th century. Lectures, programs and events attract diverse audiences for education and entertainment.
Glessner House Museum 