Discover the Nickerson Mansion: The Inspiration Behind Historic Preservation in Chicago 

Glad there were enough generous wealthy people to come forward and save this house.

Whoa, just whoa that stainglass dome!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING THIS HOUSE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO LOVE AND ENJOY!!!!

Your channel is all of my favorite things: history, architecture, and the people that cherish them like yourself. Thanks for all of your work!

I just want to thank you for making such a great video of my great great grandfather Samuel mayo Nickerson. I am a direct descendent of this Man and home. You have done such great work. Thanks

I have visited the Driehaus Museum for several events over the years. One was the costumes of Downton Abbey, just great, fit perfectly into the surroundings. Another was the poster art of 1920's, also a good fit for the location. It is certainly worth a trip if you've never been.

So many awesome buildings and houses lost in Chicago, but I'm glad they saved this one.

The built-in mantle at 3:43 is so whimsical and love the Art Nouveau/Orientalist flare to it, and holy moly that stained glass dome!! Goodness what an eye for beauty these architects had!

I am so glad that we can visit this incredible mansion today!

I visit this mansion two or three times a year. I like to think of it as my second home that I occasionally spend time in. Not a bad fantasy for $20 a visit.

Ken, what a great pick. I’ve been to this house in 2021, the week of George Floyd’s murder when Chicago was shut down due to violent riots and rampant vandalism. Since just about everything was closed, I got creative and found the Driehaus house Museum was one of the few things open. I arrived about ten minutes after it opened and had the whole house to myself! I took my time and explored all its rooms in detail. The elaborate designs and themes from one space to the next were lavishly beautiful and by far the best collection of Victorian Aesthetic designed furniture and furnishings I’ve seen in a complete setting. Each room had a unique fireplace and unique paneling around the space. Incorporated into the paneling were built in cabinets, closets, shelves, and useful furniture like writing desks and lavatory wash stands. The use of marble in the staircase hall was especially breathtaking and I couldn’t imagine where, or if anyone today would be able to acquire the incredible variety of colors and textures in order to make such an outstanding work of art! If you are ever in Chicago, this is a must see destination museum, for even if you don’t like its over the top opulence, the pure quality of the furnishings and works of art are worth the admission fee. It is truly a wonder that this home survived when mini hundreds did not. One can imagine blocks and blocks of these kinds of homes having once graced Chicago’s streets Due to this, and a few others that still exist to prove that we can build incredibly beautiful things when we want to.

I'm glad that you included a color photos of the entrance hall. and the stained glass dome. I first "visited" this mansion when it was an art gallery prior to the Driehaus purchase. One of the staff told me about the large number of supports that are in the basement just to hold up all the weight of the marble on the 1st and 2nd floor halls. Like the issue that I mentioned on your Fallingwater, video, a brass railing had to be added to the marble railed "skylight" on the 2nd floor hall as the railings did not meet current safety codes. It is a magnificent mansion. Excellent video.

How I love Historic Mansions, have not ever been to Chicago, also love the Architecture Thank you for this very lovely looking back to the past, appreciated ✍️ Mary Canada 🇨🇦

I am glad to see that this lovely mansion still exists today!! 👍👍🙂

Thanks so much for sharing these beautiful homes with us...I love taking a moment to look at these fabulous interiors

I’ve been to the house and I’ve been to a lot of gilded age houses and this is one of the best.

Visiting that house was part of life for me. 4 times a year, traversing the rooms, talking with the curators, both for the artwork and the impeccable design of the interior.

I'm so happy that this house wasn't subdivided into apts. Some of the old mansions on Capitol Hill in Seattle weren't so lucky. And even as a little kid visiting someone in one of these teeny studios that actually had a raised toilet (they were called "the thrones") and a clawfoot bathtub, I could see what the house used to be, and the hallway still had the old carpeting... I loved it!

In an interview, Mr Driehaus said that his Mom asked him for a birthday present one year. The Church had approached him to renovate St Pat's. The ask was over a million dollars and this was back decades ago. That's when his Mom said, "Consider it my birthday present." Mr Driehaus has passed away but he had a family so his family goes on 💛

I LOVE MY CHICAGO FAMILY!!!!

I live a few blocks away, but have only been once. I intend to go again this summer. It's a beautiful house and a real shame so many of the neighborhood buildings that went up since the 1920's did not include some architectural elements on the first few floors to better blend in. Just North of there Driehaus on Dearborn is a beautiful garden street with many old mansions, it was right up against an old cemetery (now Lincoln Park), where a new family could build a large home. Many apartments have gone up there that take away from the character of the neighborhood. There are a few grand old buildings from this time dotted around the neighborhood. It's well worth the walk. I do so almost every day

WOW!!!! THAT IS TOTALLY AWSOME!!!!! I WOOULD LOVE TO VISIT THAT MUSEUM AFTER I TRAVEL ON ROUTE 66!!!!

Great video this house is in the Gold Coast Area I remember seeing it when it was completely all black I had no idea that it was the Nickerson mansion and that tours were available now I want to go check out the interior

I live around the corner from the house/museum

Very interesting mansion, with a very varied history.

I loved the built in china cabinet and the fireplace in the trophy room.

Such a beautiful building! I think you might enjoy the story of Antoinette Downing and Providence, RhodeI Island's Benefit Street. An amazing example of all the styles of American Colonial and beyond's architecture.

Once again thankfully another non- demolition!!!

Lovely architecture. I love the vintage interior photos.

gorgeous millwork and appointments, never would ave used sandstone though bad decision there. were those Tiffany glass lamps at the end?\

The man had tons of foresight!

If you divide the facade into thirds, they look like a thousand Chicago residences.

Curious, is that big church behind the mansion a Episcopal church or another denomination. Beautiful home, even after the update

👍

I call dibs after the zombie apocalypse.

New York nickerbockers a downstream assignation?

Would survive a nuclear blast

The mayor of Chicago would call this racist.

The name lol

@stevevice9863: yes so agree with you .

This is a comment to feed the pesky algorithm. 🪰 Seems it enjoys dining on comments, replies and likes to both. 👍 Why not leave it something to enjoy and you get to watch the channel grow?💖🏛