Friday, April 8, 2016

this time last year

Everything's slow moving here, but that won't stop me from finding something to post.  This time last year we went to Northwestern for a week to attend a conference - which left me time to explore as much of the city's stunning house museums as the weather and verge of death morning sickness permitted.  So, over the next week or so expect a photo dump from the trip.  Many of the pictures are truely awful because of restrictions on flash photography, but oh well, they still may represent details you won't find elsewhere on the internets...

Our first stop is Glessner House, the incredibly homey 1887 H.H. Richardson masterpiece.  I'm partial to this one not only because I adore Richardson and the stunning abundance of Morris papers and fabrics, but also because the mortar and pointing on the house exactly match our own.  Which makes restoring them correctly all the more important.  Also, the house is mid-restoration, and in many of the doors were a mishmash of hinge screws, representing every possible era and appropriateness.  This gives me hope for my own derelict pile, and makes me somewhat giddy.

It's been too long for me to accurately caption these, but if you have questions I'll do my best.























 






10 comments:

  1. I would happily live in a cellar in that house.

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    1. Strangely enough, the basement is actually a couple of mostly above grade beautifully finished rooms. The one was used as a schoolroom for their children, the other is currently administrative space (I don't know it's original purpose).

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  2. I think that would more appropriately be called a mansion. Nothing house about that. OMG, it has absolutely gigantic rugs. Thanks for sharing the photos. That mansion is stunning.

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    1. Mansion in every way. But thanks to the genius of Richardson, there wasn't anything mansion about it once inside. Just a series of lush, cozy spaces that seemed to go on forever. I truly hope the bathrooms get restored, at the moment the one remaining is a crumbling wreck they wouldn't let me take a picture of...

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  3. I adore the Glessner House. I first visited in the late 1980s. The neighborhood was scary, and with a lot of empty lots and burned-out buildings.

    Today, the neighborhood is transformed. And stunning! The difference is just amazing.

    For a long time the future of the Glessner House was in question. Today its future is assured.

    Whoee!

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    1. That seems to be the story with so much of the great architecture of Chicago, which begs the question, just how much greatness was lost if this is what survived? I believe it was this house that had new rowhouses directly across the street that were nearly impossible to tell weren't period. Somewhat plain, but remarkably, and sympathetically built to blend into the streetscape (the townhouses one street over on the other hand, not so much...).

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  4. I love the Glessner house too! You can rent the courtyard for events - we had our wedding reception there. It is not really very expensive, and it is such a great space. They almost wouldn't let us have red wine, because of the "historic pavement", most of which was new concrete. Fortunately for us, a board member wanted to serve red wine at his event outside about a week before ours, so that set the new precedent. Wonderful place!

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    1. Oh what a stunning place to have a wedding. It must have been beautiful (red stained pavement notwithstanding)!

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  5. Well that clinches it ... I definitely feel the need to wallpaper over that boring Lancaster Whitewash now. Thanks for sharing those gorgeous pictures!

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    1. The whitewash is pretty, but I was wondering how long you'd be able to restrain yourself! I think you need some Trustworth Studios paper, you know, for your own good!

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