Charnley-Persky House Museum
The James Charnley-Persky House Museum is an early modern architectural marvel, a pivotal piece of American architecture that was created by none other than Louis Sullivan and his draftsman, a young Frank Lloyd Wright. Located at North Astor Street within Chicago's Gold Coast, this National Historic Landmark today serves as the Headquarters for the Society of Architectural Historians, a group dedicated to preserving and exploring the architecture of America’s past.
First built in 1892, this landmark home turned museum provides guided tours each Wednesday and Saturday, April through October, the tours 60 minutes each. Learn all about the architectural elements of the home, the abstract over Victorian features really creating a ‘hallmark of modern architecture’. The design is strongly symmetrical, the exterior balanced in brick walls and balconies and the interior holding the open and architecturally geometric facets known to come to modern architecture shortly after. Your group will also learn all about the philanthropist who bought the building, Seymour Persky, as well as the importance of what this pair of architects did in rejecting ‘historically-inspired details common in victorian era’ in order to create a new era of architecture.
