Louis Sullivan « miladysboudoir

Welcome to The Charnley-Persky House, Chicago

These days Chicago is famous for its architecture and I would highly recommend one of the Chicago Architecture Foundation Architectural Tours – by bike, on foot, by bus, by boat and even on the elevated train. On one of our earlier visits I did their River Cruise along the Chicago River ending up out on Lake Michigan for a magnificent skyline view of the city.

On another visit I travelled out to Oak Park famous for it’s Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Tour and the sheer number of Wright designed homes in the immediate neighbourhood. Then last time, in 2007, we travelled south to the University of Chicago and did the Robie House Tour.

As it’s 6 years since we were last in Chicago I bought a new 2013 guide book Michelin Chicago and was delighted to find that there was a further Frank Lloyd Wright house open to the public just a few streets away from our hotel at Delaware Place.

Front View – Charnley-Persky House

The James Charnley House is at 1365 North Astor Street in a lovely tree-lined residential area called Gold Coast. The houses are very big here and many of them are worthy of a mention as there is 2.3 mile walking tour describing many of them in my Michelin Guide.

Rear View – Charnley-Persky House

Arriving at the house in good time – tours are (in theory) limited to 15 – I signed in and waited around for ours to begin. More and more people kept turning up (over 30) but that didn’t seem to stop our docent (tour guide) from welcoming us all. I had my $10 note ready to pay but it turns out that the Wednesday at noon tour is free. No wonder it was so popular.

Front Detail – Love the Doggy Bowls – Gold Coasters love their dogs!

The introduction took place in the tiny shop which had formerly been the family kitchen and from where we headed out across the street to study the exterior before entering through the front door and being shown the ground and first floors.

James Charnley was a wealthy businessman who dealt in the railways and in lumber. The house was built in 1891 and was of a completely new and different style with very few classical references.

“Designed by famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan of the firm Adler & Sullivan in 1891, the Charnley-Persky House is a National Historic Monument as well as one of the few surviving buildings that displays the combined talents of Louis H. Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. The house embodies Sullivan’s desire to develop a new form of American architecture that would break with the past and would express new American ideals. Wright called it “the first modern house in America”. This new style heralded a fundamental change in architectural style.

The Charnley-Persky House is recognised as a seminal house in the development of modern residential design as well as a keystone in the architectural philosophies of Sullivan and Wright.”

[From the Charnley-Persky House flyer]

But what is the Persky connection? Also from the reverse of the flyer :

“In 1995, funds to purchase the house were provided by Chicago philanthropist Seymour H. Persky. The Charnley-Persky House is the national headquarters for the Society of Architectural Historians, a membership organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide.”

The ground floor hall is filled with light from the floor to roof atrium

Inside the house, interestingly, it didn’t seem so big. There were just two rooms plus hall or landing on each floor. Charnley being in the timber trade the house features lots of beautiful wood – mainly white oak but mahogany in the dining room.

It is built of Roman brick with Chicago common brick used for the lower, unseen levels. There is no garden and no coachman or coach house. The first floor balcony (our guide insisted it wasn’t a loggia!) is the only outside space.

Balcony detail – circles and squares are found throughout the house design

You can see in the photo of the rear of the house that there’s just one window at the back.It’s the beginning of a FLW trademark to let as much natural light into the house as possible. The staircase runs up the back of the house but despite the lack of windows on the east side light filters in through the wooden bannisters.

The fancy metal work and leave patterns are typical Louis Sullivan designs whereas the geometrics are very Frank Lloyd Wright.

The house has been wonderfully renovated since being taken over by the SAH and although it’s empty of original furniture the fixtures and fittings have been preserved virtually throughout.

Original gas and electric light fitting

The 45 minute house tour lasted well over an hour. Afterwards I took the bus south along Michigan Avenue (The Magnificent Mile) to the Loop Chicago business district for a quick look at The Auditorium Building and afternoon tea at a favourite Chicago restaurant Russian Tea Time.

The Auditorium Building is now The Roosevelt University

“The Auditorium Building launched the careers of architects Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. … [It] ranked as the tallest and heaviset structure in Chicago when it was completed in 1889. The pioneering multi-use building … incorporated a 400-room hotel, a 17-storey office-tower and a 4,000 seat theater.” [Source: Michelin Chicago, 2013]. It is now occupied by The Roosevelt University.