After nearly forty years of working together, the Museum Alliance Committee is excited to announce we are expanding our longstanding relationship with Glessner House. The committee’s work is to serve our mission of preserving historic entities, to learn from them and to ensure future generations have the opportunity experience life as it was in Chicago’s past. Therefore, deepening our partnership with one of Chicago’s cultural treasures was an easy decision to make.
Glessner House, designed in 1887 by Henry Hobson Richardson, was considered an architectural marvel in its day. It departed dramatically from Victorian style and became a source of inspiration for successive acclaimed Chicago architects Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
The couple who built the home, John Jacob Glessner with his wife Frances Macbeth Glessner, were an equal source of long-standing cultural influence who contributed significantly to the development and endurance of other notable Chicago institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Chicago.
In addition, the CEO and Curator of Glessner House William Tyre is considered an outstanding authority on Chicago’s history. He is also a creative and prolific source of ideas and programs with which to expand our understanding of this vital period of Chicago’s development. With all of these inspiring elements, it was natural for the committee and our Board of Managers to build an even stronger partnership.
After all, Frances Glessner was a Dame.
More detailed information about Glessner House and its many programs and activities may be found here: https://www.glessnerhouse.org/
There is an immediate opportunity to become involved with Glessner by volunteering for their annual free Ice Cream Social! The event will be held on Sunday August 25th from 2-5pm and volunteers are sought for activities including greeting guests, serving ice cream, making popcorn and running games.
Please contact Gwen Carrion, Visitor Services Manager at Glessner House:
312.326.1480 or gcarrion@glessnerhouse.org.
