Glessner House

Dear Rhoda!

On Monday, November 16 at 7:00pm, the Shakespeare Project of Chicago will appear at Glessner House to present “Dear Rhoda,” a theatrical reading with music. Inspired by the real-life letters of Chicago bookseller Jerry Nedwick, the play is set in the vibrant chaos of 1920s Chicago, where Jerry and Rhoda Katz find each other at the Dil Pickle Club – a bohemian haven for artists, radicals, and free thinkers in Chicago’s Towertown neighborhood. The performance is free of charge, but registration is required as space is limited. Register online at https://www.glessnerhouse.org/events/dear-rhoda.

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Poe Readings
Join us on Halloween for our 38th annual Edgar Allan Poe readings, provided by . Tickets remain for the 8:00pm reading only. Hear classics such as The Raven and The Tell-Tale Heart as well as some of Poe’s lesser known short stories and poems. The perfect way to get into the Halloween spirit! Purchase tickets online at https://www.glessnerhouse.org/events/poe-readings

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Photo Friday:

This week’s Photo Friday celebrates the 103rd anniversary of John Glessner presenting his children with leather bound copies of “The Story of a House.” Glessner wrote the book to document the history of the house and his interactions with architect H. H. Richardson. The prominent architectural photography firm, Kaufmann & Fabry Co., provided more than sixty images. Reprints of the book are available in our museum store and online at https://glessnerhouse.app.neoncrm.com/giftstore/product?id=12.

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Haunted Tours!

Tickets are selling quickly for our popular Shadows on the Street: Haunted Tours of Historic Prairie Avenue. One hour tours will take place on Friday October 30 and Saturday October 31 with tours starting every 15 minutes beginning at 6:30pm. Learn about ghostly sightings, untimely endings, and the most haunted site in the neighborhood where the Philander C. Hanford house (shown here) once stood. Purchase tickets online at https://www.glessnerhouse.org/events.

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Birth of Thomas Crapper:

Today we commemorate the 190th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Crapper, the founder of a British plumbing equipment company, and the holder of several patents for the improvement of the water closet/toilet. Urban legend mistakenly connects his name with a slang term for a toilet. The image shown here is taken from a reproduction box of toilet tissue, displayed in our guest bathroom.

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Photo Friday!

This week’s Photo Friday celebrates the start of fall with this image of our Orange Glow Knock Out rose in the corner parkway planting bed. The brilliant orange coloring of the rose foreshadows the changing of the leaves as autumn starts to take hold in Chicago.


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The Spiral Staircase:

In September 2016 – exactly ten years ago – a major project to restore the lower portion of the spiral staircase was completed, making the stairs usable for the first time in forty years. Partially seen here through the doorway, the staircase provided direct passage from the schoolroom to the children’s bedrooms, allowing their movements as needed without disrupting other activities in the house. Photo by .

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Our accessible ramp!

Work is proceeding on our new accessible ramp inside the 18th Street entrance to the coach house. This view is taken from the sub-basement looking up towards the door, through the opening cut into the floor where the ramp will be constructed. Our thanks to the project team including REVIVE Architecture and Berglund Construction, and all the donors who made the ramp a reality!

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This week’s Photo Friday shows a beautiful sunset over The Rocks, the Glessners’ former summer estate in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. On September 19, 1882, John Glessner purchased the initial 100 acres for $2,300; the estate eventually grew to more than 1,500 acres. In 1978, the children of Frances Glessner Lee donated 1,300 acres to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, which stewards the property to this day.



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Glessner House remembers its wonderful friend and supporter, Robert A. Furhoff, who passed away on September 12, 2026 at the age of 87. Bob was a major force in historic preservation for fifty years in Chicago, his research guiding the restoration of significant interiors including the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room, the Auditorium Theatre, and St. James Episcopal Cathedral, to name but a few. He was devoted to Glessner House, uncovering original paint colors throughout the house, guiding the restoration of multiple rooms, and providing a major gift for the restoration of Fanny’s Bedroom in 2019. He is shown here uncovering an original fragment of Morris & Co. “Double Bough” wallpaper in the corner guestroom in 2010.