In giving this museum four stars I must issue a severe caveat: the house itself is superb and well worth seeing; the Nazi staff are a blight on every aspect of the tour and so dreadful that it is difficult to concentrate on the beauties of the property. Chivvying, harassing, telling guests not to linger, not to look at rooms without forty other people crammed into the tiny viewing space before the rope, standing at obscenely insulting close range the entire time--the atrocities of this 'staff' can hardly be overstated. Thugs. They really should work for the TSA, because there is no doubt they are Too Stupid for Arby's. read more

We recently had our wedding reception at the Glessner House and it was amazing! We had the ceremony in the park next door, which the event planner, Lynn, was able to assist us in planning as well. The courtyard is such a beautiful space for a reception (we had around 120 guests) and the staff are so incredibly helpful, kind and professional. All of our guests found the space very unique and were thoroughly impressed by the setting. We received many compliments of "best outdoor wedding I've ever been to". We're probably biased, but we completely agree :) If you are looking for a neat place with a lot of Chicago history to have a wedding reception in Chicago, we highly recommend the Glessner House Museum. So long as you do your part, the staff there will certainly do theirs and more! We can't recommend them enough! read more

On Wednesdays tours are free, so I drove down there around 11am since I had the day off. The first tour starts at noon, and they say they only accept 12 people - I think we had more in our group. The woman who received us in the visitor's center was very crabby and rude....I've never dealt with anyone like that in a museum before. Our tour guide was a 30 year veteran and obviously knew her stuff, but was sometimes hard to understand her (maybe because she kept popping hard candy or cough drops). She kept telling us to hurry up and wait to ask questions, when she would stop in odd places and talk for 10 minutes about topics that were lost on me (ie - how the neighbors used to have windows facing the house, and if we wanted to go look at where the neighbors windows used to be, to take a photo...?) The Clark House is pretty much the bones of the house, which has moved from its original location. All of the interior is guessed upon - there were no photos of the interior or its occupants. The Glessner House is the real gem - beautiful home with an interesting layout not typical to the walk-ups of the time. Many of the original items were recovered. Just make sure if you drive that there is no solider field event that day. Either park at a meter or where the signs say "no parking 2 hour prior to soldiers field event unless you have a residents permit". There was no event, so I was ok. read more

An interesting house to take a tour of. The price to take the tour is $10, a bit steep. But you get an hour's worth of being shown around. Very Old World environment, beautiful architecture, antiques, etc. Arts and Crafts movement. A bit like Frank Lloyd Wright. In a beautiful, historical neighborhood. Great for those who are interested in old mansions owned by people with tons of money. read more

Came here for a conference once, and next for a wedding. This place is in a historic neighborhood. It's has beautiful architecture and is perfect for a wedding ceremony and if you're looking for a garden-esque wedding I think this place is inexpensive in comparison to most yet beautiful. The service was great - both times I was there the food was catered by D'absolute I guess their in house caterer. There food was yummy! I rate this place 5 *'s due to its subtle eloquence... :) read more

We had envisioned a beautiful event on the courtyard at the Glessner House and reserved it based on the positive reviews here. Unfortunately, we did not share the same positive experience at the end of the day. Our issues started early on with reserving the space. Our attempts to reserve were frustrating (many unanswered voicemails and emails) which we later discovered was due to the Glessner event coordinator Lisa working part time. This would have been completely fine had this been communicated to us early on but the delays in hearing back regarding our reservation cost us our ideal date (we had to go with our second choice of date). The week prior to the event, the event coordinator Lisa informed us that she would not be on site for our event and her colleague Bill would be on site instead. Okay, I guess. The issues continued with the coordinator collecting our deposit, disappearing for a week and then literally blowing up my phone and email 2 days prior to the event (while I was on vacation) to collect a security deposit. I have no idea why all the payments were not collected at the same time. The day prior to the event was a record hot day and it was projected to be over 90 degrees on the day of our event. I called and emailed the Glessner house to speak to either Lisa or Bill to discuss options to make our guest comfortable (since our event was in the courtyard) but received no response. I did not receive a response. Finally, hours prior to our event starting I reached out again and Bill took my call. He offered a solution of moving the table inside to the coach house (which I had never seen) which sounded like a reasonable plan. When I arrived at the venue I saw the tables set up in the coach house, it looked terrible. The coach house was dark with no natural light. The light that was available in the room was only half on (I asked immediately that all the lights be turned on). Even with this I was optimistic that the event would be fine. Guest arrived and we had a great time celebrating. The catering staff with D'Absolute Catering was amazing (and I will say that they were honestly they were the saving grace of the event). The staff helped with non-catering related items including helping turn those lights on! I honestly don't know what Lisa or Bills role was as the coordinator for the Glessner House because the catering staff seemed to be performing their job. Unfortunately, we had more issues. The parking was terrible. An attendant was only on site during the first hour of our event and the last hour. It was not made clear to use that when our guest parked in the lot they would not be able to access there cars at all. Ultimately, some guest decided not to park in the lot that we paid for because of this. Despite these glitches we had a great event. I even thought about leaving a fairly good (but still honest) review of the Glessner house. Unfortunately, the issue continued after our event. I received an email from Lisa a week after my event stating that she was keeping my security deposit because my event ran 2 hours over. I politely corrected her and let her know that the last guests were out of the venue 10 minutes after the end time and that I had stayed to help the catering staff clean up (which I did not have to do). There were no guest present and cleaning concluded promptly. She refused to verify end times with the caterer and merely stated that Bill had told her the event ran over. Because of this she would keep the deposit. I thought that after how useless both Bill and Lisa had been during my event the least they could do was verify times and try a little harder at customer service. It became very clear to me from start to finish with our event that they were not interested in positive relationships, families, customer service, or me and my event. They were interested in the bottom line and they were prepared to fight me over pennies on the dollar. I do not care about deposits, what was truly disappointing to me and my family in hosting this event at the Glessner House was how little they care about people and how much they care about money. Not at all what I expected. Would not recommend. read more

Docent Susan Robertson led my tour today and I am so impressed I want to join the museum. It's a remarkable Chicago treasure that I've manage to miss thus far. Not only is it worthy of time and donations because it is a 17,000sq ft house built by the time's bravest architects, it has 90% of its original furnishings and was lived in by people who supported the arts and exhibited philanthropy as part of their citizenship. Take a tour, donate money, you'll be proud you did. read more

We were so happy with our Spring 2012 wedding at the Glessner House Museum! The Victorian-era building and its grounds are absolutely lovely, particularly for couples with a mid-sized guest list who would like an outdoor component. We had our ceremony in the picturesque Women's Park and Gardens next door and our reception at the Glessner House afterward. The historical importance of the Glessner family and the building's architecture were really unique aspects of the mood we were able to create for the wedding. With our ~90-person dinner in the coachouse and dancing at night in the spectacular courtyard, Glessner House created an intimate, romantic atmosphere for our vintage-inspired celebration. The photos from our wedding are absolutely stunning, from the natural light shots in the meadow-like park to the shots of dancing in the courtyard after dark. Aside from the idyllic setting, the other major benefit of the Glessner House is its amazing event staff. We have only good things to say about everyone who helped out, particularly the site Event Coordinator. She was efficient and knowledgeable during every step of the wedding planning process and on the wedding day itself. She was responsive and helpful in the months leading up to the ceremony and handled all deliveries and logistical arrangements with our vendors closer to the actual date. She had worked with many of our vendors before, so the wedding day ran incredibly smoothly. Our photographers were from out of town, but even with a vendor she didn't know, she integrated them seamlessly into the wedding day logistics. She really just made sure that each part of the day flowed perfectly into the next. The staff's knowledge of the space, experience with event planning, attention to detail, and ability to adapt to challenges is a huge benefit to any couple having a wedding at the Glessner House. Ultimately, the whole staff helps you take advantage of being in such a remarkable setting - over half of our guests went on the museum tour during the cocktail hour, and everyone had great things to say about this unique activity. Our wedding at Glessner House Museum was all that we had hoped, and I would recommend this as a wedding venue to any couple in Chicago looking to create a romantic, unique atmosphere for their wedding day with top notch event planning staff! read more

Allan was a great docent. Very well informed. The house is very cleverly designed. Go there on Wednesdays when it is free. Tours start at the top of each hour. Be sure to get there by 2pm to see both this house and the Clark house. read more

I recently had my wedding reception at The Glessner House, and I am so pleased with everything- the way the day went and the look of the courtyard and space- the fact that docents were on hand to give my guests a tour of the historic residence, and of course- Lynne. Lynne runs the events at the Glessner House and she was integral to our experience being what it was. She was very much on top of things and she made sure the day went as planned, and she improvised when needed- which worked out beautifully. I would highly recommend this space as a venue for your biggest day, or a private party of any kind. It is truly unique and a treasured landmark. read more

After looking at multiple venues in the city, we finally settled on the Glessner House as the site of our wedding, and we are so glad we did. It provided a perfect location for our wedding and reception (actually, the ceremony was supposed to be at the park but since the weather didn't cooperate, it was held in the coach house at Glessner). The building is beautiful on the inside, perfect for wedding photos, and guests were able to tour the house during the cocktail hour. The courtyard offered a beautiful and classy backdrop for the reception. As fans of Chicago history and architecture, it was the ideal place for us. Glessner House will always hold a special place in our hearts for helping make our wedding an unforgettable event. - Lon Wehrle (groom) read more