Glessner House

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.

September 9 –

1876 Exposition program
Join us online this Thursday, September 10 at 7:00pm Chicago time, when historian John Hepp transports us back in time 150 years to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The 1876 world’s fair commemorated the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and featured numerous buildings housing hundreds of exhibits, including Horticultural Hall, shown here. Purchase tickets online at https://www.glessnerhouse.org/events/centennial-exposition.

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Harvester Building:

John Glessner’s company, International Harvester, completed its new building at 600 S. Michigan Avenue in 1907. The $850,000 building was designed by architect Christian A. Eckstorm and was used by Harvester for 30 years. In 1975, it was the first building purchased by Columbia College; it contains the college’s administrative offices and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

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Photo Friday:

This week’s Photo Friday remembers John Glessner’s brother, George Blocksam Glessner, who died 100 years ago today. A widower, he left most of his fortune to his niece, Frances Glessner Lee, who used the inheritance to establish the first department of legal medicine in the country, and create her famous Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. In recognition of her efforts, she was appointed the first female police captain in the United States, and is today recognized as the mother of forensic science.

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Walking the White City:

Only a few tickets remain for our walking tour of Jackson Park on Sunday, September 13, from 10:00am to noon. This walking tour, with architect and historian John Waters, will locate the sites of landmarks of the World’s Columbian Exposition, explore the fascinating vestiges of the fair that still remain, and show how the fair influenced the design of Jackson Park as we know it today. Purchase tickets online at
https://www.glessnerhouse.org/events/walking-the-white-city

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