'a house that was a home'

-if you are starting here...you really want to start here.

born in 1888, eleanor robinson was the daughter to the owner of the diamond match company. she lived in the usa during the school session and spent holidays and summers in europe.
she could go anywhere, live anywhere, and even though she was a woman could pretty much do anything.
she chose to live her life in chicago.
going back and forth from europe she decided she wanted a house that looked like marie antoinette's. the craftsmanship, the intricate details, the high ceilings where just some aspects of marie's cottage that eleanor wanted to bring back to the states.
when eleanor got married. the wedding gift from her father was money to build her dream home.
she married fredrick countiss during the years of ww1 and brought her friend howard von doren to create the masterpiece her and her husband had put together from the images she remembered from marie antoinette's cottage.

before














now



















so, boys and girls the question still remains. how did this house become a museum?




















eleanor was extremely involved with the red cross and the suffrage movement. she filled her home with some of the most influential people from the early to mid 1900's.
some of those *people were; the wrigley's, the hearst's, the mccormicks, the drakes, and the armours.
eleanor died when she was 42. she had four children and two of her children sold the house to the international college of surgeons.
the house was given to the college in 1952, which was then turned into a museum.
it has been said that when eleanor died, the spirit of the house died also.

before















now


















*-around the city of chicago, these names are all over the place.

here is the foyer to the house.