Henry Hobson Richardson and Richardson Morris Hunt were the first two American students who attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris at the middle of the nineteenth century. Hunt gained fame as an architect of superior eclectic residences for wealthy patrons and as first president and organizer of the American Institute of Architects, but Richardson is now considered the most important architect of that century and as a major goal of his work he sought to create a truly American architecture.

The attitude of the two men toward their clients varied in a manner that can be read in the products of their relationships-the buildings themselves. In their differing approaches to architecture, Hunt saw himself as a servant of existing values while Richardson was interested in shaping new values. Hunt provided clients however many yards of exquisite French chateau or Second Empire style they wished while Richardson gave his clients a building that served their purposes at the same time it reflected his aesthetic ideas.

One client in particular, the John J. Glessner family of Chicago, must have been a pleasure for Richardson to work with. That the residence of 1885-1887 that the Glessners commissioned from Richardson gave immediate pleasure to Richardson is clear from Mr. Glessner's 1923 recollection, "From what he [Richardson] told me and what his young men said afterwards, I am convinced that this house of ours is the one of all that he built that he would have liked most to live in himself. It was his last work:' (The Story of a House, John Glessner, 1923.) The house of course gave a much more lasting meaning to this family for whom it functioned well for 50 years.

The Glessner and Richardson families became friends, no doubt in part because they shared similar ideas about what made a good life, and about the food, music, and books of the time. Both Richardson and the Glessners were interested in the English medieval picturesque and the reform and arts and crafts movements. The libraries of each shared some of the same titles and authors, for example, books by Bruce Talbert, John Ruskin, and Lucy Crane.

In addition to using his library as a design resource, Richardson had taught himself through his travels about the French Romanesque, as well as the work of William Morris. John and Frances Glessner had educated themselves in the work of Viollet-le-Duc, the English arts and crafts, and other architecture and design interests through their reading before they met Richardson.

The Glessners had also developed a strong professional and personal relationship with the architect and designer Isaac E. Scott in the 1870s and early 1880s. Scott designed buildings and furniture for the family as well as making ceramics, designing embroidery, and giving them drawing lessons.

So it came about that in their home on Prairie Avenue, the Glessners had sought and savored good design at all levels. These educated clients embraced the total design concept, from Richardson's design for the house, to the furniture made especially for it through his firm, and, by Richardson's own example and interest in the designs of William Morris, even to the fabrics, carpets and wallpapers chosen for their house.

From the structure itself to the details of its furnishings, all were viewed as important and connected ends. This house of almost 100 years and its interior decorations still testify to the mutual ideas of educated clients and a great architect.