Glessner House

This was a wonderful tour of this important Chicago home. We had a great tour guide - Sharon K. I had toured the Glessner House some time ago, but this tour was so much better. Sharon had many insights about the architect; the history of the original and renovated architecture and furnishings; and the seasonal use of the home. She brought the Glessner family to life! I highly recommend a tour of this home. If you are lucky, Sharon K will be your tour guide.

What a cool peak into some Chicago history! We went during an open house but can’t wait to go back for the full paid tour. Beautiful home

I visited this museum during my stay in Chicago in Spring 2022. If you like the unique atmosphere of old houses, you should definitely visit it. The tour guide was amazing, he told us so many interesting things about the house and history of the family. We really enjoyed it! Just check their schedule before going since they are open on specific days only.

Good golly! This may be one of the most amazing tours one can take in Chicago. A National Historic Landmark on what used to be Millionaire's Row, this 135+ year-old Guilded Age Chicago home is full of original furnishings and a staff that knows so much about the family that once lived there and the era in which so much around the home developed then changed. Top notch!

I went on a tour of this house and was blown away by how many of the things in this house are original to it when the Glessners, the only residents of the house, lived there. It is highly unusual for a historic home to have so many of the original furnishings and decorations, but it is much appreciated by me. The house is lovingly cared for and the tour guide was fantastic, knowing a great deal of information on the house and various pieces that are on display in it. They still have a couple of rooms to restore still, but that in no way should discourage you from visiting this architectural jewel in the revitalized Prairie Avenue District of Chicago.

Wonderful cultural and historic center in a beautiful vintage neighborhood. Lots of great programming including music, history, tours, etc.

Being a (very) distant relative myself, I found this tour very fascinating. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable and did a great job.

The Glessner House is an amazing location to host a wedding or an event. The courtyard is a great setting for an afternoon or evening reception and guest are just in awe of the space. The staff is easy to work with and the nicest bunch of people I have had the pleasure to work a wedding with. You wont regret hosting your wedding here.

What a wonderful way to spend the afternoon! Glessner House offers a peek into a Chicago familiar's history. It also surprised us with the genius planning by their architect. He seemed like a man I would have loved to know. The South Loop is so interesting and this beautiful mansion is a real jewel. The design and furnishings were a nod to the beauty in history. The docent was so nice. She offered information in a way that I could tell she really cared. She was sweet and pleasant and led a very enjoyable tour. I highly recommend visiting at least once - maybe more!!

Tour was definitely enjoyable. Guides were pleasant & informative. The reservation-counter woman was not a warm people-person. We almost didn't take the tour b/c of her attitude. Tips: do online reservation, arrive only few mins b/4 tour start time, be prepared about using home's narrow staircases (not handicap accessible), & avoid touching most everything here (a few carpets are even off-limits.) Fact: young &/or active children are not good candidates for this tour.

Wow! Just had the best time Here! John was a wonderful tour guide, and the fact that the vast majority of the glessner museum is preserved and untouched and the actual artifacts from the 1880's house is mind blowing! I can't wait to take my mom back here during their Christmas season! I loved every moment and would recommend it to anyone as a fun event to take part in!

The house was built at late 1800. It designated as historic landmark at 1970. It is stone house for most of the exterior. The interior is the red brick structure. They must have skill stone cutter. The line of the stone was perfectly layout with roman style trapezoid cutting with round top. What can you expect to see. This house has a lot of circular layouts. It is one of the unique layout. The architecture does include area with nice set up such as hallway with with quarter. The lower section is carriage entrance. The garden is nice when lead to the second floor. At main room, it has a very old Steinway piano that is very colonial style. The bed room cover has a very detail crafted lace. If you come to visit at Wednesday, the entrance fees is free. Guided tour is included.

The house is great and the tour guides are knowledgeable, and I don't want to take away from them since they are giving freely of their time to be there. However, unlike other gilded age museums in the area, you cannot wander here. In fact, a rather officious tour assistant was following our small group of 5 and shutting doors behind our group very quickly behind the tour; she wouldn't even allow me 30 seconds to get some good photos after everyone had exited. I only paid for the tour to get the history but mainly for the photos. They need to be a little more clued in as to why people are there paying money for a tour. I share my photos on several tour groups and I know I could help them get visitors but half the time this woman was either standing in my shot or hurrying me into the next room and closing the door in my face. I will likely never go back to the Glessner house because of this experience. Run your tours how you please but don't be surprised if people don't make repeat visits.

I visited Chicago this past weekend with family and friends, and it turned out to be a mostly architecture visit! We toured at least 3 or 4 historic buildings, one of which was the Glessner House. I was excited about the tour, because I knew the house is considered architecturally important. However, the tour didn't really get across (at least to me) why that was the case. I understood that the architect (Henry Hobson Richardson) was influential and died young and that many architects were inspired by the house (including Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright), but not why the building was important or inspired other architects. I can't say I found the house beautiful, but the tour was interesting (you do learn quite a bit about the Glessner family, who seemed like very interesting people). Because they only offer a few guided tours at certain times each day (and no self-guided tours), our tour was quite large, and it was a little difficult to fit in every room and to stay on the gray runners (as a very short person, I couldn't always see very much either). All in all, the tour was interesting, but not my favorite of the weekend.

Wow, I just took a hour and 15+ min guided tour of the Glessner House. Highly recommend the guided tour (with John our docent), which made the tour very enjoyable and memorial. Tour included seeing and learning about both the inside and outside of the house, and the coach house. I was inspired by learning more about the Museum's: history, the architectural significance of the house, the Glessner family (and their children), and their Chicago connection. Was also great to hear about the Glessner House Museum's recent acquisitions and new and ongoing restoration efforts. After our tour, we walked around the historical neighborhood, which was delightful, on this beautiful - Chicago - summer day.

We had our reception there and it was wonderful! Our guests loved the venue and the tours of the house offered by staff. Bill was pleasant to work with throughout the entire process and was very prompt in addressing our inquiries. Onto the tips, the venue itself is affordable. It holds approximately 150. The venue works with one caterer, so keep that in mind. If you're doing an evening event outdoors, the lighting that was provided standard worked well! If we added more, it might have been too bright. For dog lovers, small dogs are welcomed in the coach house and courtyard. Our pup reminded folks of Hero, the Glessner's terrier.

Two things I absolutely love - architecture (specifically Frank Lloyd Wright but I enjoy it all) and Chicago history. The history of the greatest city in the world intrigues me and it doesn't hurt that my family has some ties to the beginning making it all the more relevant to me. The best deal for the Glessner House is touring both this estate and the Clarke House for $15. A lot of how great your tour is depends on your docent and I was very lucky to have the lovely and knowledgeable Joan as mine. Fantastic lady! She went into details of the family, tidbits about the times, the architecture of the house and the history of the house up until present day. She was very rarely stumped by a question. Tours happen W-Sunday at 1 and 3pm but come an hour before that if you want the tour of both homes. Wednesdays are free! The Glessner House is one designed by HH Richardson who is quite an interesting fellow and a pillar of Chicago architecture although he was quite the architect in many cities. He influenced FLW, Louis Sullivan and many other notable architects. Quite a bit is known about the Glessner family and home so this tour is very informationally accurate with less assumptions than made in the Clarke House. There is a lot in the home that's original and they are still working on acquiring more of the original pieces and parts. While we were there for our tour (of about 15 people), we witnessed them setting up a wedding in the outdoor area. This area looks like an English small courtyard and the wedding setup looked beautiful and perhaps budget friendly, as well. Noted! I can't believe it took me so long to swing by here. If you're into Chicago history or architecture like myself, this is a must do in the city. You'll thank me after.

I actually never got to see the Glessner house inside. I got free tickets for the Museum Day sep 21, 2019. Got to the Glessner House at 1:50 Pm and it turned out that they only have organized tours for 75 min and next one was at 2:30 pm. It seemed strange that you can only see the house at certain times and it takes a full hour and 15 min to see a 2 story house. I wish we could see it at our own time and our own pace and not having to dedicate a full afternoon. Chicago has a lot to offer, this could have been a quick complimentary tour..

I love historical houses so I've been to quite a few. Glessner House is by far the best one I've been to! Instead of being set up like you're looking at an exhibit in a museum, each room is laid out so organically that you really feel like you've stepped into someone's home. The Glessner's personal items really bring the history to life, and the docents are VERY knowledgeable. I came for a tour during Open House Chicago, and it was run very smoothly given how many people were clamoring to get in! I will definitely be back for another tour and some of the fun events they have listed on their website :)

I'd do three and a half stars on this one if I could.The Glessner House is very unusual.I"couldn't quite figure it out".It's actually pretty big and was a rich mans house.It looks like a fortress from the outside.Inside you could isolate yourself rather easily.Combine this tour with the Clarke House Tour .Both leave from here.They make an interesting contrast .

Should be a must see for anyone in Chicago for more than a day, and a trip destination for anyone with interests in architecture, design, decorative arts, Chicago History, or urban living. The architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, was pre-eminent American Architect in 1870s and 1880s. A young Frank Lloyd Wright moved to Chicago a few year after house was completed in 1887, and you can see Richardson's influence in many of FLW's Prairie Style designs. The main family spaces of the house are restored and redecorated exactly as the Glessner's themselves did so- there are historic photographs taken by the family's teen aged son in the late 1880s that are on display, along with nearly all of the art objects, most of the furniture and other items saved by the family and returned to the museum after the house was saved from demolition in 1966- sparking the historic preservation movement in Chicago, spreading to the rest of the country. Tours are FREE on Wednesdays, starting up again post-pandemic. The tours are led by passionate and very knowledgeable docent volunteers. The neighborhood, Prairie Avenue, also holds a dozen or so historic mansions and row houses dating to 1868 that have been preserved, many of them restored. Large park adjacent to house, several restaurants and cafe's within 2-3 blocks, easily accessible by public transit or the Lakefront bike/jogging path, and only 2 blocks from McCormick Place make this a hidden gem of a museum, greatly under appreciated. 90 minutes very well spent in a unique, historic, intimate and fascinating setting.

My husband and I had our wedding at Glessner House in June 2017. This venue is a hidden gem in the city and we could not have been happier that we chose it. Besides being exceptionally beautiful, we enjoyed the flexibility in ceremony location (we chose to have ours next door in the park,) their exclusive caterer (D'Absolute) was fantastic, and the museum coordinator Bill (who helps act as point person throughout the planning process) could not have been more prompt in communication, conscientious and helpful. I loved the onsite bridal suite, which has windows looking down into the courtyard, so I was able to watch the set up of my event while we prepped upstairs. Additionally,guests were able to take short tours of the house during cocktail hour, which was a huge hit. Our night was magical and beautiful - we could not have been happier with Bill and the Glessner House.

Went here today and had a nice time. Our docent was very good, and I think she explained every little thing in the place, and related things in the house specifically to what was happening in the world/ in the US/ in Chicago at the time. All the home's architectural features were pointed out to the group (both indoor and out) and this house had almost all original furnishings inside as well. Pretty impressive considering it is from the late 1800s. This tour lasted one hour, and it was Wednesday- so the tour was free. But they recommend you come early on Wednesdays because the tours fill up fast. If you have time, I recommend strolling along down Prairie Avenue and even checking out W omen's Park next door.

We had the MOST magical wedding at Glessner house on 6/23/18! Bill and the new event coordinator did an incredible job for us working with vendors and answering our questions all along the way. They were incredible accommodating and responsive, and the venue was absolutely gorgeous. Our guests went on and on about it all night and since then. The bridal suite was excellent, the groomsmen had their own room as well, and we were able to have items delivered. Bill is super kind and organized. I would recommend this hidden gem to any bride! We LOVED our whole experience. Thank you to the Glessner House!!! PS the history of the home and tours are also amazing. Great care taken of this special place.

This past weekend I was the Day-Of Coordinator for a Wedding at the Glessner House and Museum, and I was blown away by the team there! With their exclusive catering team and the House Manager on site, the day was run like a well-oiled machine. Their work allowed me to focus on what I do best, attending to the Family & Wedding party. The grounds were Gorgeous, the house was breathtaking. I cannot wait to see the photographs of my lovely Bride on the Pink sofa! The string lighting was romantic - I felt worlds away from Chicago, transported to a different era.... HawkinsonEvents.com

I was pleasantly surprised to discover such a gem the Glessner House Museum in Chicago. It is a great venue to rent for small size meetings and quite accessible via public transportation and vehicular traffic. The event planner Jenny Keane was outstanding. At my recent event a Woman Fellowship, Jenny was very hands-on, assisted in the room lay off and the set up. She was not only very professional but quite flexible and sensitive to the needs of the organizer. I highly recommend utilizing this venue for your small, classy events. The personnel at GHM are congenial & very helpful. I will definitely utilize GHM for future events. Francine B

Please don't bring your children to the museum if they are under 10 years old. The woman at reception would give you horrible experience that you have never had if you bring your kindergarten children. We visited the museum on 09/22/18. Since we came in, this woman had been continuously spying on us with bad manners. She shouted sensitively 'No touching' before we got close to the museum model in the tour waiting room and so on and so forth. Even other visitors who are in the waiting room shook their heads with surprise and incomprehension. We have visited more than 50 museums all over the world, and this is the first time we met such an unprofessional staff. We suggest that Glessner House Museum makes a sign 'No kids' or you should treat all the visitors friendly. Although other staffs are nice, we have to give one star.

Well, it has been two months since our wedding and we are still in love with our wedding venue just as much as the first time we went there. I would highly recommend the house as an event site. The property is gorgeous and is large enough for a 150 person wedding. The space has a lot of character and can work really well in a creepy, romantic and serene way. I love the Glessner House and am so glad we had our wedding here. We rented the space for 10 hours and was worth every penny. Our cocktail hour, ceremony and after party took place outside while our meal was eaten inside. Our contact was Adella and she was a little too uptight for us, but she eventually relaxed and let us have our way a bit more. The director Bill seemed really conservative until he was at our wedding and then he let lose and hooked it up. He gave us an extra hour and a half of his time(we paid for it, but still they said everything must end by midnight and he gave us that extra time) so our party could go on longer. We were able to drop everything off the day before the wedding and pick everything up on Sunday and Monday.

I spent 2 and a half hours here on a class tour, and two thoughts ran through my mind the whole time: 1. I don't want to leave. 2. How did I not know about this place before?? If you're a Chicago history nerd like I am, you need to visit the Glessner House. It's a beautiful piece of the city's history and almost like a time capsule with the meticulous work done by the staff to try and save or replicate as much as they can. It's still a work in progress, but considering what the house has been through over the years, they've done a wonderful job bringing it back to its former glory. The design of the house is smart and thoughtful. There are small details you wouldn't necessarily realize that went into the design. You get a sense of what the family was like from how the house was set up -- warm people who were interested in reading and the arts. I've been to a lot of other house museums and I've never had the overwhelming sense of feeling like a welcomed visitor like I did here. I may have gotten a better tour than normal, considering the director led us around, but even with his wealth of information, I still found myself online today looking for more information on the family. The grounds are also great. From the street, it feels like the house might just be a fortress without character, but there is a large, inviting courtyard out back that connects the Glessner House to the Clarke House. I live on the North Side and am not native to Chicago, so I had no idea what kind of neighborhood I was going into when I came here, but that part of the South Loop is definitely on the up. If you're strapped for cash, Wednesdays are free, but if you can, consider going some time when you have to pay. It's worth the $10 and the money is going to a worthy cause. It would be a shame if this place isn't around to visit in the future.

Bah. I love love love house tours. This is the first I've ever been on to elicit "bah." An interesting house, it was definitely worth entering. But paying $10 to hear a lady literally tell me, "So this was their house," several times in an hour just doesn't cut the mustard. Who were the Glessners? "Wonderful people." Hmm. What makes you say that? What do you mean? While their website has an entire page dedicated to a De Morgan vase, it wasn't pointed out to us on the tour. But most disappointing wasn't the lack of details or of information, it was the misinformation: After my visit, I found out that the tiles on two of the house's fireplaces were designed by De Morgan, but they were mistakenly identified as *quite literally* "Persian." (She clearly didn't understand that they were designed by an Englishman inspired by Turkish design.) Their volunteers need to receive much much better training, and they need to charge $3 in the meantime.

We had our wedding here, and although i was in love with the courtyard for our reception we had to move everything indoors due to weather. I was sad about it but was even more grateful that this venue comes with a plan B and with a staff that's ready for just about anything to help make any surprises seamless. We really loved that this is where we got married the museum is fascinating and being form Chicago originally I really enjoyed learning about the Glessner's. I loved working with Bill and really admired his passion for this museum, historical home and notable family. We look forward to visiting this museum for years to come and hope to celebrate milestone anniversaries there too :)

After walking by this monstrosity of a (former) private residence every morning and evening we decided to go into its bowels for a tour one lazy Saturday. The tour entrance is off of Prairie Ave and in the basement where the gift shop/office is. The house isn't very pretty honestly, but it is a fascinating piece of architecture to be sure! The story behind the house is also quite interesting to hear. It's pretty incredibly designed and I really enjoyed seeing it. Be sure to catch the Clarke House tour at the same time for a discounted rate. Tours run in tandem, one after another, and you can see the two houses in either order. *************** Yelp Binge #6

An amazing piece of architectural history. If I win the lottery, I'm having a relpica made. It's breathtaking. It's a wee bit steep at $10/person to tour, but you can pair it with the nearby Clark house for $15. It was slow when we went, and we got a private tour from Claire, the docent there. She was knowledgeable and friendly.

Wedding Venue! The moment we saw the venue we knew it was where we wanted to share the best day of our lives. Our ceremony was in the Chicago Woman's Park and Garden. This made for a beautiful urban garden setting. The reception was in the courtyard of the Glessner House. We had about 120 guests that fit perfectly. The incredible lighting and charm of the venue was enough to have our guests raving. Lynne, works with excellent vendors that know the venue well. This made it simple to coordinate the equipment rentals, lighting, and catering. So not only is the venue itself incredibly gorgeous, charming and vintage chic, but the event coordinator is the BOMB!! Lynne made sure everything went as planned and on schedule! the whole day was smoothly orchestrated. If there were any snags in the day...I had no idea! Lynne made sure our grandpa, our only 90 year old guest, was comfortable and taken care of the whole night. Which meant a lot to us. I could not have asked for a better venue. The Glessner House provides the whole package. I would highly recommend this venue for a wedding, or any other event for that matter!!

I'm a huge HH Richardson dork. I own the first monograph ever published by Glessner House on the subject of the furniture of Isaac H. Scott. But yet I had never actually been for a tour until a couple of weeks ago. The docent was wonderful, and even offered to let me chime in if she missed anything. I learned a ton, even though I was just going to look. The docents are all volunteer and do their own research, for the most part, so you are likely to get a range of information depending on who is working. Our docent was able to give us not only a history of the house and the family, but really put it all in the context of the times. And, most importantly for me, they were fine letting us take our time and look at everything. Our tour went about 15 minutes longer than usual and we never felt rushed.

Best. Wedding Venue. Ever. Ok ok, I know it was my own wedding I had there, but all biased feelings aside, this venue is incredible! We got married in August 2013 the park next door and celebrated in the courtyard of the Glessner House which was like something out of a movie with beautiful architectural features highlighted by the lighting crew from Art of Imagination (also a big thumbs up to them). Our guests were able to take tours of the museum during the cocktail hour, and who doesn't want to dance in the backyard of a piece of Chicago history? The venue came with a day-of-coordinator, Lynne, who was flawless. We met with her several times to go over logistical details, including back up plans in the case of rain, and on the day itself (the weather was gorgeous, but even if it had rained, I am confident Lynne would have had it covered), she kept everything running so smoothly that I never had to answer a single logistical question all day! I've heard of brides stressing out and crying because of all the work they have to do on their wedding day - not for me. I was able to enjoy it entirely because Lynne was managing all the details in the background. She even placed signs in glass frames for my guestbook table because my little handmade ones were too light and might have blown away. She thinks of everything. I'm still getting compliments on the wedding from both guests and from facebook friends who just saw photos. Some of my friends are already asking if I would be offended if they chose this venue when it came time for them to get married. The Glessner House is a beautiful and unique gem that I would highly recommend to anyone who wanted a truly unforgettable wedding venue.

The Glessner house was the venue for our July wedding. Being Boston based architecture nerds, getting married at a Chicago Landmark was a no brainer. We held the ceremony in the adjacent Chicago Women's Park and Gardens, and the ceremony in the courtyard of the Glessner house, with dinner served in the carriage house. The scale was perfect for our wedding of about 90 guests, and the high brick ivy colored walls of the courtyard made the reception feel so romantic and secluded from the city. While Lynne at the Glessner (who essentially served as our wedding coordinator) may first come across as too direct for some people's taste, she was invaluable in making sure everything from the ceremony to the reception flowed seamlessly, lifting all worry off of the wedding party and bride and groom the day of. the only thing I would caution- if you are booking this venue, check to see what is happening at nearby soldier field. In our case, a major concert was released at about the same time as the wedding, leaving our guests cab-less for hours. The price was very reasonable for a wedding venue, and a good value considering you are essentially getting a day-of wedding coordinator as well. I would highly recommend the Glessner as a wedding venue for a couple who is looking for something unique and beautiful.

We had our wedding at the Glessner House in June 2016. It's a beautiful, unique venue that's reasonably priced. We loved the location in the charming Prairie District. It's right next to the Chicago Women's Park & Garden (public park) so you can have your ceremony in the park and walk into the courtyard for cocktails/reception. They no longer have a rental coordinator so we worked directly with Bill, who's the ED of the museum and doesn't have much event planning experience. You'll have to most of the coordination with vendors yourself so don't expect a package-type experience. You're required to get a pricey lighting package and the tent is expensive if you need it. Overall, we were looking for an affordable, outdoor venue in the city and this fit the bill. Just make sure you're on top of them throughout the planning process.

I really enjoyed my tour of this museum. The tour guide could have been a bit more energetic, but other than that it was perfect, especially because I went on a Wednesday and it was free. The house is so unique, after touring many historic homes this is just one of a kind. The courtyard especially is so cool and I enjoyed just how much of the house we got to see - it is one of the first houses where the tour showed the servant's quarters, for example. The house is no longer connected to the Clarke and I have to say this tour is much better than theirs!

I'm not a tour fan, I'd rather enjoy the peace and quiet of observing and reading for myself instead of an interjecting and pushy tour guide. When my class went we were split in half, the other group said their tour guide was awesome, apparently my group got lucky to get the crazy one who kept making up statements at whim about the lady of the house who had control over the staff and therefore was a real feminist despite the whole not being an equal thing and other ramblings that made everyone look at each other with baffled looks. It's quite beautiful and inspiring aside from all that drama and a great place for an art history major.

Docent Susan Robertson led my tour today and I am so impressed I want to join the museum. It's a remarkable Chicago treasure that I've manage to miss thus far. Not only is it worthy of time and donations because it is a 17,000sq ft house built by the time's bravest architects, it has 90% of its original furnishings and was lived in by people who supported the arts and exhibited philanthropy as part of their citizenship. Take a tour, donate money, you'll be proud you did.

BRIDES BEWARE: I had my wedding at the Glessner House this past August. The location is beautiful and very close to our house which is why we chose it as our wedding venue. My husband and I met with Lynn to tour the venue and schedule a date, this went well and Lynn seemed nice. My next few meetings with Lynn were without my husband, and my opinion of her plummeted. I was planning a very small intimate wedding of about 40 guests; when Lynn was helping me set up a plan for the day and how it would go she became very pushy. I specifically told her that I didn't want to do certain things, for example: have appetizers, Lynn insisted that we serve apps as well as several other things I didn't want. If it was presented as an opinion based off her experience, it would have been fine but the way she insisted after several "No, we're not doing that" was rude and pushy. I understand that she is probably used to planning more traditional weddings with more guests, but after all this was MY wedding, not hers, and her job is to plan the wedding schedule around what the bride and groom want not what she wants... The day of the ceremony was beautiful, except for Lynn. She was downright bitchy to my wedding guests and several, my mother, my mother in law, sister, sister in law, aunts, and a few friends, complained about her multiple times. She would not let my mother and mother in law help decorate, and flat out yelled at a couple guests for entering through the wrong door (when there was no sign indicating the correct entrance...) She did a great job of keeping everything organized and on time, but her attitude was not warranted nor appreciated. Why be in the wedding business if you can't treat the bride and her guests with respect?! I spent weeks after the wedding, a time that should be spent happy and glowing, crying because I was so embarrassed by the way my family was treated on my big day, I even refused to pick up the refund check even though it is 3 blocks from my house because I could not stand to see Lynn again. Again it's a gorgeous wedding venue and if you are assertive for what you want and don't mind people with terrible attitudes then this might be a great choice for you....

So I did a case study in a museum studies class on Glessner House Museum. I feel like I can give a pretty fair assessment of this place since I poured over minor details for months haha. What makes this place amazing... 1. An HH Richardson home! For real people, even if you aren't into architecture this is a huge deal. You won't find another for MIIIILLESS. 2. It's a really good snapshot of its time as the owners were huge patrons of the Arts and Crafts movement. 3. The Isaac Scott woodworking is amazing. Beautiful even. 4. It's an overlooked part of town that is totally due on some exposure. Lots to take in on Prairie Avenue if you haven't done so already. 5. It's a beautiful and unique piece of history. 6. The staff was incredibly nice and as helpful as they could be. I think the curator is doing amazing things for both the home and the neighborhood/community. He was beyond helpful while writing my critique. 7. LOTS of programs for kids. To be fair...here's what made me think hmmmmm? 1. The only textual or even non-docent information was in the form of a trapper keeper being passed around in that dark house. Minus a display about furniture in I believe a servant bedroom. A chair had a magic marker X drawn on it. I asked why....no one even knew what the display was. 2. The docent didn't have a ton of information, but the security guard did fill in some blanks for me. She was made of nice. 3. The website. I think it was made 15 years ago. It needs to be updated and needs digital pictures so people (the world outside of Chicago) know how awesome this place is. It really is fantastic. This is a really critical review, but I think all of these things are important. In the end, don't be taken back by the lack of polish you might be used to at the big museums. I saw complaints about the admittance fee. Guys, $10 probably doesn't even keep the lights on here. The fee is minor and as a nonprofit they could use more. This place is a gem! A must if you live here or are just passing through. P.S. I had a dream that I had High Tea and sake here in the lawn with Abraham Lincoln. It was amazing. How do I make that happen?

Went to go for a free Wednesday tour and lady at the front desk was rude. It was clear they didn't seem to want little kids, plus the tour was full. The lady has attitude as if we were a bother as another Google reviewer had written. They need a lesson on how to not be pretentious. Their website is crappy as there's no info how to register for a paid tour and when I signed up for another one by phone the other day the lady was very rude. Again management if there is one there should know about the Glessner / Clarke house rude women...

In giving this museum four stars I must issue a severe caveat: the house itself is superb and well worth seeing; the Nazi staff are a blight on every aspect of the tour and so dreadful that it is difficult to concentrate on the beauties of the property. Chivvying, harassing, telling guests not to linger, not to look at rooms without forty other people crammed into the tiny viewing space before the rope, standing at obscenely insulting close range the entire time--the atrocities of this 'staff' can hardly be overstated. Thugs. They really should work for the TSA, because there is no doubt they are Too Stupid for Arby's.

We recently had our wedding reception at the Glessner House and it was amazing! We had the ceremony in the park next door, which the event planner, Lynn, was able to assist us in planning as well. The courtyard is such a beautiful space for a reception (we had around 120 guests) and the staff are so incredibly helpful, kind and professional. All of our guests found the space very unique and were thoroughly impressed by the setting. We received many compliments of "best outdoor wedding I've ever been to". We're probably biased, but we completely agree :) If you are looking for a neat place with a lot of Chicago history to have a wedding reception in Chicago, we highly recommend the Glessner House Museum. So long as you do your part, the staff there will certainly do theirs and more! We can't recommend them enough!

On Wednesdays tours are free, so I drove down there around 11am since I had the day off. The first tour starts at noon, and they say they only accept 12 people - I think we had more in our group. The woman who received us in the visitor's center was very crabby and rude....I've never dealt with anyone like that in a museum before. Our tour guide was a 30 year veteran and obviously knew her stuff, but was sometimes hard to understand her (maybe because she kept popping hard candy or cough drops). She kept telling us to hurry up and wait to ask questions, when she would stop in odd places and talk for 10 minutes about topics that were lost on me (ie - how the neighbors used to have windows facing the house, and if we wanted to go look at where the neighbors windows used to be, to take a photo...?) The Clark House is pretty much the bones of the house, which has moved from its original location. All of the interior is guessed upon - there were no photos of the interior or its occupants. The Glessner House is the real gem - beautiful home with an interesting layout not typical to the walk-ups of the time. Many of the original items were recovered. Just make sure if you drive that there is no solider field event that day. Either park at a meter or where the signs say "no parking 2 hour prior to soldiers field event unless you have a residents permit". There was no event, so I was ok.

An interesting house to take a tour of. The price to take the tour is $10, a bit steep. But you get an hour's worth of being shown around. Very Old World environment, beautiful architecture, antiques, etc. Arts and Crafts movement. A bit like Frank Lloyd Wright. In a beautiful, historical neighborhood. Great for those who are interested in old mansions owned by people with tons of money.

Came here for a conference once, and next for a wedding. This place is in a historic neighborhood. It's has beautiful architecture and is perfect for a wedding ceremony and if you're looking for a garden-esque wedding I think this place is inexpensive in comparison to most yet beautiful. The service was great - both times I was there the food was catered by D'absolute I guess their in house caterer. There food was yummy! I rate this place 5 *'s due to its subtle eloquence... :)

After looking at multiple venues in the city, we finally settled on the Glessner House as the site of our wedding, and we are so glad we did. It provided a perfect location for our wedding and reception (actually, the ceremony was supposed to be at the park but since the weather didn't cooperate, it was held in the coach house at Glessner). The building is beautiful on the inside, perfect for wedding photos, and guests were able to tour the house during the cocktail hour. The courtyard offered a beautiful and classy backdrop for the reception. As fans of Chicago history and architecture, it was the ideal place for us. Glessner House will always hold a special place in our hearts for helping make our wedding an unforgettable event. - Lon Wehrle (groom)

We were so happy with our Spring 2012 wedding at the Glessner House Museum! The Victorian-era building and its grounds are absolutely lovely, particularly for couples with a mid-sized guest list who would like an outdoor component. We had our ceremony in the picturesque Women's Park and Gardens next door and our reception at the Glessner House afterward. The historical importance of the Glessner family and the building's architecture were really unique aspects of the mood we were able to create for the wedding. With our ~90-person dinner in the coachouse and dancing at night in the spectacular courtyard, Glessner House created an intimate, romantic atmosphere for our vintage-inspired celebration. The photos from our wedding are absolutely stunning, from the natural light shots in the meadow-like park to the shots of dancing in the courtyard after dark. Aside from the idyllic setting, the other major benefit of the Glessner House is its amazing event staff. We have only good things to say about everyone who helped out, particularly the site Event Coordinator. She was efficient and knowledgeable during every step of the wedding planning process and on the wedding day itself. She was responsive and helpful in the months leading up to the ceremony and handled all deliveries and logistical arrangements with our vendors closer to the actual date. She had worked with many of our vendors before, so the wedding day ran incredibly smoothly. Our photographers were from out of town, but even with a vendor she didn't know, she integrated them seamlessly into the wedding day logistics. She really just made sure that each part of the day flowed perfectly into the next. The staff's knowledge of the space, experience with event planning, attention to detail, and ability to adapt to challenges is a huge benefit to any couple having a wedding at the Glessner House. Ultimately, the whole staff helps you take advantage of being in such a remarkable setting - over half of our guests went on the museum tour during the cocktail hour, and everyone had great things to say about this unique activity. Our wedding at Glessner House Museum was all that we had hoped, and I would recommend this as a wedding venue to any couple in Chicago looking to create a romantic, unique atmosphere for their wedding day with top notch event planning staff!

Allan was a great docent. Very well informed. The house is very cleverly designed. Go there on Wednesdays when it is free. Tours start at the top of each hour. Be sure to get there by 2pm to see both this house and the Clark house.

I recently had my wedding reception at The Glessner House, and I am so pleased with everything- the way the day went and the look of the courtyard and space- the fact that docents were on hand to give my guests a tour of the historic residence, and of course- Lynne. Lynne runs the events at the Glessner House and she was integral to our experience being what it was. She was very much on top of things and she made sure the day went as planned, and she improvised when needed- which worked out beautifully. I would highly recommend this space as a venue for your biggest day, or a private party of any kind. It is truly unique and a treasured landmark.