Driehaus Museum facts for kids
 |
|
| Established | 2003 |
|---|---|
| Location | 40 East Erie Street Chicago, Illinois United States |
| Type | Decorative Arts Museum |
| Public transit access | CTA bus routes: Routes 3, 10, 26, 36, 125, 143, 146–148 and 151 Chicago 'L': Chicago Station Grand Station |
The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is a special place in Chicago, Illinois. It's located on the Near North Side, close to the famous Magnificent Mile. This museum is inside a beautiful old building called the Samuel M. Nickerson House. It was built in 1883 for a rich banker from Chicago.
Even though the house is old, the museum doesn't just show how the Nickerson family lived. Instead, it displays amazing art and designs from a time called the Gilded Age and the art nouveau period. These were popular styles in America and Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s. You can see fancy marble, shiny onyx, carved wood, colorful tiles, and stained glass everywhere. The museum also has original furniture from the Nickerson family's time. Plus, it features many works by a famous artist named Louis Comfort Tiffany. The museum is named after its founder, Richard H. Driehaus, who was a businessman and art collector. The art you see here comes from his own collection.
Contents
The Museum's Story
The grand mansion was designed for Samuel M. Nickerson by a well-known Chicago architect, Edward J. Burling. It took four years to build and cost a lot of money – about $450,000 back then! When it was finished in 1883, it was said to be the most expensive and fancy private home in Chicago.
The Nickerson family lived in the house from 1883 to 1900. After them, a paper businessman named Lucius George Fisher owned it until he passed away in 1916. In 1919, some important people in Chicago bought the house. They gave it as a gift to the American College of Surgeons. This group used the building for their offices until 1965. From 1965 to 2003, different groups rented the building from the College of Surgeons.
The building became a special historic place in 1976. It was officially named a Chicago landmark in 1977.
In 2003, Richard H. Driehaus bought the building. He wanted to save and show off beautiful old architecture and design. He started the museum and had the building carefully restored. The Driehaus Museum first opened its doors to the public in June 2008.
What You Can See Inside
Inside the museum, you'll find items from the Driehaus Collection. These pieces are shown alongside the beautifully kept rooms and some of the original furniture.
The Driehaus Collection has one of the largest groups of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the country. Richard H. Driehaus bought his first Tiffany piece, a stained-glass window, in 1978. Since then, his collection has grown to over 1,500 objects! It includes Favrile glass (a type of art glass), vases, furniture, and many stained and leaded-glass windows.
Some cool Tiffany items you can see include colorful shiny stemware (drinking glasses), a big fire screen with shiny chain mail tiles, and a unique lamp made from eight large nautilus shells. There's also a green blown-glass humidor (a container for keeping things moist).
The museum also has amazing furniture. You can see carved maple chairs by George A. Schastey & Co., who originally decorated the Nickerson House. There's also a rare grand piano and a large dining table made of white oak.
Other interesting things include a brass chandelier with boar heads and hunting horns. You'll also find vases by Émile Gallé and Sèvres, and a fancy clock by Deniére. There are paintings by artists from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Don't miss the dramatic marble sculpture by Oscar Spalmach, which shows the mythical figures of Cupid and Psyche.
The second floor of the museum used to be where the Nickerson family lived. Now, it's used for special art exhibitions. The third floor has a ballroom where many of the museum's events happen. There's also a lounge where visitors can relax on Art Nouveau furniture designed by Edward Colonna.
Tours and Activities
The museum offers guided tours every day. You can also just explore on your own.
Sometimes, they have special tours for different seasons:
- The Servants’ Tour: This tour takes you through the servants' areas of the mansion. A guide dressed as a fictional housekeeper tells you stories about what life was like for the staff.
- McCormickville Walking Tour: This tour explores the historic neighborhood around the museum.
- Twilight Tour: This evening tour talks about how wealthy Chicago families like the Nickersons socialized and spent their evenings long ago.
The Driehaus Museum also hosts many public events. These include concerts, talks, and family programs. They all aim to teach people about old buildings, decorative arts, and the Gilded Age. For example, they have a jazz concert every three months with musicians from the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. They also have the Samuel M. Nickerson Lecture Series, where experts talk about design and architecture from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Stained Glass Gallery
The museum used to have a special gallery for stained glass at the Navy Pier. It showed eleven Tiffany stained glass windows. These windows featured church scenes, landscapes, and people. There was also a large fire screen. This gallery closed in 2017.
Gallery
-
Fireplace
-
Fireplace
-
Glass detail
-
Tiffany Glass on display in the museum
-
Second Floor
-
Parquet floor detail
-
Chandelier
-
Glass detail
-
Door lock detail
-
Fireplace sculpture detail
-
Tile detail
-
Tile detail
