The Greater Chicago Chapter is a fairly recent addition to the Victorian Society in America.  Its charter was granted in October 2003. The Chapter President is Larry Lesperance. 

We welcome new members, whether architectural aficionados, decorative arts devotees, or simply Victorianaphiles to join us in exploring the rich heritage of Victoriana in our area. For more information on the Chapter, please send an E-mail to the following address:
GCCVSA@gmail.com

For Membership information, please contact

Larry Lesperance:  E-mail: LL4852@aol.com   Phone: 773-267-9336

For a printable PDF listing the 2010 events outlined below, click here.

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Chapter Questions:     GCCVSA@gmail.com

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EVENTS FOR 2010

Ancient Greek Influences on the
19th Century American Stage

(Chicago Theater and Beyond)

Presented by: Dr. Amanda Wrigley, Ph.D.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010     6:00 PM

Church Tour / Dinner / Lecture

Grace Episcopal Church, 924 Lake Street, Oak Park, Illinois

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June 26, 2010   Saturday     2:00 P.M.  Chicago History Museum, Chicago, IL

"I Do"  Chicago's Wedding Bridal Fashion History  

Featuring more than 50 garments, curator Timothy Long will guide us through the changing Bridal fashions and traditions for the past 150 years.  Featuring Marshall Fields affordable fashions along with the first Bridal Registry.

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July 11, 2010     Sunday    Road Trip to:

Tallman Home, Janesville, Wisconsin, and Milton House, Milton, Wisconsin

GCCVSA’s annual pilgrimage to nearby places offers the high Italianate style Tallman Home.  Abraham Lincoln spent 3 days and 2 nights here in 1859.   Private lunch will be provided in a 1927 Spanish Revival home located in the Historic District of Janesville.  Also a tour of the nearby, poured concrete Octagon, Milton House, nationally recognized as an Underground Railroad stop.  An opportunity for dialog with the directors of both institutions will be offered.

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Coming Up:
 

It's Going to Be a Bumpy Ride:
Victorian Transportation and Pub Culture

A visit to
Naper Settlement, Naperville, IL

 Sunday, September 12, 2010, Noon
 

Mid-century Transportation, Taverns and Pub Culture

Member Bryan Ogg, Research Associate at Naper Settlement will host members and guests with a lecture on the culture and technologies of Victorian transportation and public houses. A catered lunch will be provided in the 1840s era reproduction tavern located at Naper Settlement, a 12-acre outdoor history museum.  A tour of the restored Martin-Mitchell Home, Pinecraig is also included (see our own Bob Furhoff’s handiwork!). 
 

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October 30, 2010   Saturday   6:00 P.M.    Private home, West Chicago, IL

Early Electric Incandescent Lighting

We're back with our own Keith Letsche's home to look at 19^th Century, 1878-1894, electric incandescent lighting.  His presentation will be illustrated with significant examples of early bulbs and other apparatus, including items dating to Edison’s Menlo Park period.  The ambience of Keith's 1874 home with its period furnishing will make this a most enjoyable evening.

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November 6, 2010    Saturday    4:00 P.M.      Glessner House, Chicago, IL

There will be a brief membership meeting and election of officers for 2011.

This will be immediately followed by Karl Gates, speaker/appraiser/teacher, with 30 years of experience, who will offer appraisals for anything that can be carried in, for $5.00 per item.  This will be your opportunity to learn what attributes one should look for in an item to determine its worth as an antique.

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Events from 2009

 Tour of the Driehaus Museum
 Monday, November 9, 2009

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is one of the grandest residential buildings of 19th-century Chicago, the Gilded Age home of banker Samuel Mayo Nickerson.  Chicago Philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus founded the museum on April 1, 2003, with a vision to influence today's built environment by preserving and promoting architecture and design of the past.  To realize his vision, Mr. Driehaus commissioned a five-year effort to preserve the structure and its magnificent interiors. (Photo courtesy of Richard A. Driehaus Museum)

Afterwards, members gathered for post-tour revelry at Salute wine bar located in a rehabbed pre-Victorian house at 46 E. Superior.

You can find out more about the Driehaus Museum via this link to their extensive and fascinating website.

Lecture: "Cookbooks and Culture of the Victorian Era"

Date:     Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Time:     6:30pm reception /  7:00pm lecture
Venue:   Glessner House Museum/ 1800 S. Prairie Ave. (Chicago)
            Six blocks from the Roosevelt el stop of the Orange, Red, and Green lines
              Bus:  Michigan Ave. lines 1,3,4         Bus 129 from Union Station
         
Sponsor:  Victorian Society in America, Greater Chicago Chapter

Penelope Bingham, food historian and cookbook collector, explored cookbooks as a resource for understanding the culture and history of the Victorian era.  Ms. Bingham also offered insights about changes in the technology, gender roles, social structures, and values of the era.

Events from 2008

Friday, April 4, 2008
"Mayhem and Monsters: Painting the Dark Side of the Gilded Age"

Most painters of the Victorian era painted the gleaming surface, never dredging into the murkier places below. A few ventured into the darker regions to express the social, sexual, and personal anxieties that underlay this turbulent time. Sarah Burns, Professor of Art History at Indiana University will discuss three such painters—William Holbrook Beard, Elihu Vedder, and Albert Pinkham Ryder—and illustrate her talk with a PowerPoint presentation.

Time: 6:00 reception with cash bar; 7:00 dinner; 8:00 program
Venue: The Cliff Dwellers Club, penthouse dining room, 200 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago
Dinner: Caesar salad; choice of (1) pork tenderloin, (2) salmon, (3) mushroom ravioli; fresh vegetables; starch; dinner rolls; key lime pie; coffee or tea
Cost: $55 for members of the Greater Chicago Chapter; $65 for nonmembers. Send check with dinner choice(s) to:
Greater Chicago Chapter
P.O. Box 3815
Oak Park, IL 60303-3815

Questions: GCCVSA@aol.com or Toby Trabert 708-763-9265
 

Thursday, May 1, 2008
"Bronte"

The Chapter is planning a theater outing to see "Bronte," the American premiere of a new play in its first production outside of England. The acclaimed Remy Bumppo theatre company is producing the play at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater, 2257 North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. "Bronte" explores the question of how a trio of Victorian spinsters could have produced some of the most passionate literature ever written.

Time: 7:30 pm
Cost: $28
Dinner option: Meet for a group dinner at 5:30 at O'Fame, a moderately priced Italian restaurant at 750 West Webster (one minute walk from theater).

Parking: validated parking at Children's Memorial Hospital, 2316 N. Lincoln and Lincoln Park Hospital, 550 W. Webster
Send check payable to Greater Chicago Chapter to:
Greater Chicago Chapter
P.O. Box 3815
Oak Park, IL 60303-3815
 

The first Chapter program in 2008 was held at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February 5. Chapter member, Monica Obniski, recently a Research Assistant in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Decorative Arts Department, will discuss the installation of the Met exhibit, “Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall—An Artist’s Country Estate.”

 

The program was held at the Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago, whose nearly untouched Arts and Crafts interior from 1900 includes, among many its many treasures, nine Tiffany stained-glass windows.

 

The evening began with a reception, followed by a brief introduction about the Church and then the featured speaker. After the talk, tours of the Church will be offered by trained docents.

 

Date:                Tuesday, February 5

Time:                6:30 pm

Cost:                Pay at the door: $15 for Chapter members; $20 for nonmembers (join

                        the Chapter for 2008 and pay the member price)

Location:          Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago

1936 South Michigan Avenue (NW corner of Michigan and Cullerton)

                                               

Contact: Toby Trabert, 708-763-9265 or tobyrt@aol.com

 

Event Review

It was a dark and stormy night. The person (unnamed) who was bringing most of the food, the sign-in sheet, and the name badges was an hour late. Many people who had signed up were unable to attend. We had computer problems.

However, those who made it to the Second Presbyterian Church on Tuesday night enjoyed an insightful presentation about the Tiffany and Laurelton Hall exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The presenter, Monica Obniski, was one of three museum staff persons who put the exhibit together. She did a great job of describing how the exhibit was created and picturing many of the pieces displayed and the spaces that were made to replicate the designs of Tiffany. Most people realized for the first time that the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida has a wonderful Tiffany collection and was the source for at least fifty percent of the exhibit. For those who asked about the location of Winter Park, the simplest answer is "around Orlando."

After the talk, docents from the Friends of Historic Second Church gave tours of the church, which was beautifully lit and warm—important on this cold night.

Saturday, July 12, 2008
Hegeler Carus Mansion, La Salle, Illinois

Designed by W. W. Boyington and completed in 1876, this house is the quintessential Charles Addams Victorian home. Day trip includes lunch and tour of an additional home.

Wednesday, September 10,  2008
“American Decorative Art”

Glessner House Museum, 1800 South Prairie Avenue, Chicago

Art historian Rolf Achilles will speak about and present examples of American decorative art. Program will be co-sponsored with the Glessner House Museum.

Program and venue TBA
Annual meeting and election of Chapter officers for 2009.

December
Holiday party for Chapter members.

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Events from 2007

We had a very good year in 2007.

The Alumni Chapter Summer School recruitment program at Saint Ignatius College Prep was held in February. Though it was snowy and bitterly cold, the program was well attended.

The Greater Chicago Chapter’s first dinner program was held on March 15 at the Cliff Dwellers Club, a private club whose dining room overlooks Michigan Avenue. It was a beautiful, clear evening, and guests had a grand view of Chicago looking north to the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier and south along the lake shore. Walker Johnson, a member of the Cliff Dwellers was our host for the evening.

Deborah Blum, our speaker for the evening, is the author of Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death. Her discussion of spiritualism and the paranormal was interesting and unsettling and led to a lively discussion following the talk.

Pictured: Speaker and author, Deborah Blum; Chapter President Beverly Offen with two guests in Victorian attire; and enrapt Chapter member, Phyllis Johnston.

In May, many Chapter members met at the Frances Willard House in Evanston, headquarters of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and a National Historic Landmark. In addition to a tour of the home and library, a talk was delivered by Carolyn De Swarte Gifford on the journals of Frances Willard.

Chapter members were interested to learn that Frances Willard was at one time the most famous woman in America. Her fame has been eclipsed by other early pioneers in the struggle for reform and for women’s rights. The WCTU is alive and well, although it now accepts men as honorary members and much of its focus is directed at the problem of illegal drugs.

Frances Willard’s handwriting was such that the transcription of her journals, accomplished by Carolyn Gifford, was very nearly a task of translation.

While the WCTU was important for promoting social and political reform, a more important role was the part it played in providing women with training in leadership.


Saturday, July 28, 11:00 am
Ellwood House and Museum in DeKalb

In July, Chapter members spent a day in the country, visiting the Ellwood House and Museum and two other restored Victorian houses in DeKalb, Illinois. It was a beautiful day, and lunch was served on the outdoor terrace of the Ellwood House. Isaac Ellwood made his fortune in the development and manufacture of barbed wire.


Sunday, September 16, 12:00 noon
Blackwelder House
10910 South Prospect Avenue
Morgan Park in Chicago

In September, a program was held at the Blackwelder House, located in Chicago’s Morgan Park. The Blackwelder House was once the residence of Isaac Blackwelder, the president of the Village of Morgan Park. The original portion of the house was built in the Italianate style in 1874, with a Queen Anne style addition to the front added in 1887.

Jack Simmerling, current owner of the home, is an artist, author, and expert on Chicago architecture. We had lunch at the home and then viewed the house and Jack’s collection of architectural artifacts salvaged from historic Chicago buildings demolished in the 1960s.


Tuesday, November 6, 6:30 pm
“Songs of the Victorian Music Hall and Parlor”
1904 W. H. Lake House.

The 2007 Annual Meeting and final program took place at the 1904 W. H. Lake House. Following a reception and viewing of the home, Chapter members were treated to a performance of songs popular in the Victorian music hall and the parlor.

The house was designed by George W. Maher and is located on Chicago’s Landmark District Hutchinson Street.
 

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Preservation Efforts

The chapter's 2007 nomination of Union Station in Springfield, Illinois for a VSA Preservation Award was successful.  The award was presented at the Annual Meeting in Mobile on April 28, 2007 and was accepted by the Chapter President, Beverly Offen on behalf of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The award was formally presented to Robert Coomer, Director of the Agency, at a ceremony on June 21, 2007 at Springfield’s Union Station.

Union Station
Springfield, Illinois
AWARD

For the rehabilitation of this 1898 Romanesque Revival train station designed by architect Francis Bacon, and in particular for the reconstruction of its 150-ft. tower and for its adaptive reuse as the visitors’ center for the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum.

 

The magnificent 150-foot clock tower of this Romanesque Revival building, constructed in 1898, was removed in 1946 in a program to “modernize” the structure.  After disuse as a train station, the building was converted into a shopping mall and subsequently fell into disrepair. 

 

The State of Illinois acquired the building and in 2000 began a complete rehabilitation that included reconstruction of the landmark clock tower, requiring reinforcement of its foundation for support.  The station has been sensitively adapted for reuse as the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, which now welcomes visitors from around the world who come to Springfield to visit Lincoln’s home and grave.

Related: Development Press Release

THE VICTORIAN SOCIETY IN AMERICA

1636 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: 215-636-9872
Fax: 215-636-9873

Email: info@victoriansociety.org