We would be remiss if we ended Prairie District day without at least mentioning two official landmark houses, each now a museum, in this historic enclave. The first, pictured above, is Glessner House, designed by much-imitated architect Henry Hobson Richardson in 1887 for what’s now 1800 S Prairie Ave. We could wax eloquent about the proportions and influence and solid good looks of this house for many screens, but you’d be much better off visiting the place, which is now a museum. Tours of Glessner House start at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Clarke House, 1827 S Indiana Ave, doesn’t have the architectural value of Glessner, but it’s one of the city’s oldest buildings – built circa 1836 – and perhaps the best remaining example of the Greek Revival style that was as popular a century ago as the original stuff was in ancient Greece. Only for the Greeks and Romans, see, it was still fresh. Anywho, whatever you think of this look, Clarke House could be the oldest crib in Chicago (some make the same claim for the Noble-Seymour-Crippen house in Norwood Park). Tours of Clarke House begin at noon, 1 and 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
I’d like to add a note re: Clarke House and Seymour-Crippen. The only part of the Seymour-Crippen House that dates to the same era as Clarke is a small part of the foundation, which is original. Not one inch of the house dates to the early 1800’s, it’s all later construction. Clarke, on the other hand, is a complete house in which almost all of the woodwork, lathe and plaster walls, etc., is the original 1836 material. It should be said that Clarke House has been moved, so the foundation is not original, just the house itself.