Bronzeville is a large neighborhood on the city’s South Side running south of Cermak Road between Lake Michigan and King Drive on the east and the Dan Ryan Expressway on the west; 47th Street was and remains the hub of the neighborhood. During the “Great Migration” of the 1910s, the population of the area increased dramatically as Black Americans fled the segregated South in search of jobs and an improved quality of life. Residents included Ida B. Wells, Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lou Rawls, Louis Armstrong, and many others. A portion of the neighborhood was designated as the Chicago landmark Black Metropolis District in 1998.

Historian Bernard Turner will discuss how Bronzeville became a Black Metropolis and why it is now a National Heritage Area. He will take a look at the places and people who tell the important story of Bronzeville and how it has become an international tourist destination and cultural epicenter.

Our free annual program in honor of Black History Month is co-sponsored by Glessner House, Friends of Historic Second Church, Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church, and Second Presbyterian Church.

SOLD OUT! Chicago artist, historian, and preservationist Jack Simmerling (1935-2013) was passionate about Prairie Avenue. Jack first visited the fabled street as a young boy, when he accompanied his grandfather on a visit to a friend working as the caretaker of the old Marshall Field mansion at 1905 S. Prairie. As a teenager, Jack obtained a job working with the wrecking crew tearing down the old houses, salvaging architectural fragments which soon filled his house. As a budding artist, he began creating oil paintings of the houses, and what they may have looked like in their prime. Shortly before his death in 2013, he bequeathed his entire collection of Prairie Avenue fragments and artwork to Glessner House.

In October 2025, the Ridge Historical Society, in partnership with Glessner House, opened an exhibit on Jack Simmerling entitled “Jack Simmerling: Through His Eyes,” in honor of the 90th anniversary of his birth. One half of the exhibit features a detailed look at his life and includes a selection of fragments and artworks - oil paintings, watercolors, and pen and ink sketches - from the Simmerling Collection at Glessner House. The other half of the exhibit focuses on his work documenting the architecture and history of the Beverly Hills and Morgan Park neighborhoods where he lived and operated his business, The Heritage Gallery, for more than fifty years.

This very special event will include a private tour of the exhibit by the co-curators - Bill Tyre from Glessner House, and Tim Blackburn from the Ridge Historical Society. After the exhibit tour, participants will have the rare opportunity to visit the historic 1866 Ingersoll-Blackwelder house nearby. Jack Simmerling purchased the house in 1970, restored it to its former glory, and filled it with his massive collection of architectural fragments, some of which remain today. The event will conclude with a wine and cheese reception at the house.

May Morris (1862-1938), the younger daughter of William Morris, is recognized today as a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement, a leading exponent of decorative needlework, and a campaigner for women artists. Despite being one of the foremost practitioners of her generation, it was design that May described as the very soul and essence of beautiful embroidery.

One of the largest collections of May’s designs, from roughly sketched ideas to finished patterns, is held by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. This presentation, based on Lynn Hulse’s book of the same name released in late 2025, showcases a selection of 25 of these designs, which are published for the first time, positioning May’s output within the artistic developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The presentation will be given by Lynn Hulse, a textile scholar and practitioner specializing in embroidered furnishings of the Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts movements. She is the author of several publications on decorative needlework and editor of May Morris: Art & Life (2017). Formerly archivist at the Royal School of Needlework, Lynn now runs Ornamental Embroidery which delivers workshops, lectures, and first-hand study sessions of objects in public and private collections, including the Ashmolean Museum.

In honor of Women’s History Month, Dissidents of the Gilded Age honors the women composers of this era who stood as beacons of strength and accomplishment in their lives as musicians and activists. These composers’ music disturbed the social, political, and musical expectations imposed on them by society. “Salon music” was thought of as light entertainment, suited for fairer ears. However, the music is anything but light entertainment, and deserves its time in the spotlight. Dissidents of the Gilded Age is a project many years in the making, and strives to showcase women composers who are still under-performed and under-published. The program will include works by Cecile Chaminade, Dame Ethel Smyth, and Amy Beach.

Duo FAE was founded in 2012 by violinist Charlene Kluegel, and pianist Katherine Petersen, who had met at the Aspen Music Festival several years earlier. FAE stands for “Frei Aber Einsam” or “Free but Lonely,” the motto of pianist-composer Johannes Brahms, and violinist Joseph Joachim. Duo FAE’s playing has been described by the New York Classical Review as wielding “considerable power” and “precise phrasing.”

The concert will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a reception where guests will have an opportunity to meet the artists.

Join us as we celebrate the 148th anniversary of the birth of Frances Glessner Lee. Born on March 25, 1878 in her parents’ home on West Washington Street in Chicago, Lee lived in many homes during her 83 years. In this presentation by museum curator William Tyre, we will explore those houses and how they both reflected and influenced Lee through the years.

Our exploration begins with her birthplace, her New Hampshire playhouse at The Rocks (shown above left), and, of course, Glessner House. The second part of the presentation will include the Prairie Avenue townhouse occupied during her married years (shown above right) and her elegant co-op apartment on Lake Shore Drive. The third and most detailed portion of the presentation will focus on her beloved cottage at The Rocks (shown above center), which became her permanent residence in 1938. It was here that she explored and expanded the emerging field of legal medicine, now forensic science, and created her famous Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.

FREE EVENT!

Everyone has a story to tell. What if you could share your story and watch it come to life before your eyes? Join us for "Stories Connect Us," a cross-community story-sharing event, currently touring with The Connecting Routes Project. Attend a performance of storytelling and improvisational theater featuring your true stories of building community, connection and solidarity interpreted onstage by the Chicago Playback Theatre Ensemble. The performance begins at 7:00pm and is approximately 90 minutes long.

Doors will open at 6:00pm for pre-show activities, a recording station, and free mini-tours of Glessner House. Following the performance, the storytelling continues through recording stations, written prompts, and interactive activities.

This program of solo piano music will be performed by Vincent Ip on Frances Glessner’s 1887 Steinway Model C “semi-concert” grand piano. Selections range from pieces by Chopin and John Field - composers that Frances Glessner herself played - to work by Rameau, Mompou, and Ginastera, along with a piano transcription of Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2.

Born and raised in New York City, Vincent Ip completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Program Honors at Northwestern University, studying under James Giles. He has been recognized with numerous prizes at prestigious competitions, including a Medal of Honor at the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona, Spain. Vincent runs a private teaching studio, is a faculty member at Northwestern University, and maintains an active performing career.

The concert will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a reception where guests will have an opportunity to meet the artist.

Inspired by the elegance of the Belle Époque, this recital brings to life the refined world of French art song at the turn of the 20th century. Music by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and their contemporaries reflects a time of extraordinary artistic cross-pollination, where poetry and music merged to create works of shimmering beauty and emotional intimacy - perfectly suited to an intimate salon setting. The performance features Andrea Baker, soprano, and Evan Bravos, baritone, accompanied by pianist Nicholas Pothier.

The concert will last approximately one hour and will be followed by a reception where guests will have an opportunity to meet the artists.

Join us in the beautiful home of The Fortnightly of Chicago for our annual gala, Celebrating Frances Glessner.

Frances Macbeth Glessner (1848-1932) was an extraordinarily gifted woman. Her talents ranged from embroidery to silversmithing, and jewelry making to beekeeping. An accomplished pianist, she and her husband John were among the most devoted supporters of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra during the first four decades of its existence, regularly welcoming the leading musicians of the world into their home.

The event, styled as a summer garden party, will include small bites and beverages, and the opportunity to tour the former home of Bryan and Helen Lathrop, an 1892 Georgian Revival masterpiece by McKim, Mead & White, which has served as the home of The Fortnightly since 1923. Frances Glessner was an active member of The Fortnightly for more than 50 years and presented the organization with a beautiful silver sweetmeat dish she handcrafted in 1905, which will be on display.

A brief program will include a welcome from the current president of The Fortnightly, remarks on Frances Glessner and her impact on Chicago, and the presentation of the annual John and Frances Glessner Award to Linda Miller, immediate past president of Friends of Historic Second Church.

This very special tour provides attendees with the rare opportunity to visit the interiors of several landmarked homes in the Prairie Avenue Historic District. See beautifully carved wood moldings, leaded glass windows, fireplaces in elaborate tile, mosaic, and marble, and much more!

Sites tentatively included on the 2026 tour:
-Marshall Field Jr. house, 1919 S. Prairie Avenue (Solon S. Beman, architect; 1883;
remodeling by Daniel H. Burnham & Co., 1902)
-Charles Purdy house, 213 E. Cullerton Street, (Thomas & Rapp, architects; 1891)
-William Reid house, 2013 S. Prairie Avenue (Beers, Clay & Dutton, architects; 1894)
-Harriet Rees house, 2017 S. Prairie Avenue (Cobb & Frost, architects, 1888)
-Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Avenue (James Renwick Jr., architect, 1874; remodeling by Howard Van Doren Shaw, 1901)
-The Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, originally Engine Company 104, 1401 S. Michigan Avenue (Charles F. Hermann, 1905)
-Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation, 2120 S. Michigan Avenue (historic studio of Chess Records)

An abbreviated tour of Glessner House including the main first floors rooms is also included.

Tour guides will also be stationed at various locations in the neighborhood to discuss and show photos of prominent lost houses including those of Marshall Field, George Pullman, Philip Armour, and others.