Join Royal Oak as we virtually tour the Glessner House. The house was built on Chicago’s most prestigious residential street Prairie Avenue in 1885 by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, and was later designated a historic landmark in 1970. A radical departure from traditional Victorian architecture, the structure served as an inspiration to architects such as Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, and the young Frank Lloyd Wright and helped redefine domestic architecture. Richardson, eager to develop a style of architecture that would reflect what he saw as the musculature of the fast-growing United States, the late-19th-century architect developed what would be called the Richardsonian Romanesque style.

The Richardsonian Romanesque style took elements of European Romanesque architecture from buildings constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries, and adapted them to American idioms. This was the last residence Richardson would work on as he died three weeks after its completion at the age of 48. We will focus on the influence of the English Arts and Crafts Movement, William Morris, and his contemporaries. The house has original features including the William De Morgan tiled fireplace. It also features the recreation of the Morris wallpapers, textiles, and rugs.