Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – A Window With A View

I’ve missed one or two of these Lens-Artists Challenges recently so I’m making up for lost time with this one.  Amy has chosen A Window With A View as the topic this week and here is my take on the subject. The first picture is a view of Millennium Park from The Chicago Art Institute. The second was taken at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills where there was a lovely view of the surrounding gardens from one of my favorite rooms there.

The next view, of the waterfront on Mackinac Island, was taken from a window high up on a hill at Fort Mackinac.

The next two pictures were taken at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook, Illinois. Two totally different views from the same room, one of the gardens and the other of the house. I believe this room was built as a sun or fresh air room which was supposed to be beneficial to the occupant’s health. If I remember rightly, there were windows like this on three sides of the room.

The next image was captured at the Capitol Building in St Paul, Minnesota. A window within a window overlooking the Capitol Grounds.

One of the biggest reasons for our travels has been to visit our children. For a while our youngest daughter and her family lived in a condo that had a very nice view of McGovern Centennial Gardens in Houston, Texas.  Before that, they lived in Salt Lake City, Utah where we visited the Natural History Museum that had a window where the view was almost the same looking in as it was looking out.

Climbing up the steps of one of the towers at Holy Hill Basilica provided a great view of an adjacent spire.  Also in Wisconsin, this time at the Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, there was a colorful view from one of the windows of the John Purves tugboat.

Daily Prompt – Gate – Open and Closed

Here was another one of those daily prompts that I couldn’t ignore.  An open gate always seems to be an invitation to walk right in, and a closed one just makes me want to climb over the wall and see what’s on the other side. Luckily I didn’t have to do any climbing at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills.  I just had to walk around the wall.  The gate had a totally different appearance on the other side.

Visitors are always welcome to walk in at the English Walled Garden in the Chicago Botanic Garden.

For more on the Daily Prompt at The Daily Post go to Gate

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Bathrooms

Well, this was a challenge and no mistake!  I’m not usually in the habit of taking pictures of bathrooms except when visiting houses of historical interest and it would appear that way back in the day, bathrooms weren’t necessarily high on the agenda.  Still, I’m not one to shirk a challenge and, trawling through the old photo files, I finally came up with a few images that I thought might qualify for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.

Out of all the 42 bathrooms at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, it’s incredible to me that this was only one that I seemed to have photographed. Was I not paying attention?

Glensheen Mansion in Duluth was a little more productive on the bathroom front.  One thing about these old houses, they had some decent sized tubs!

The bathroom at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills was a little more elaborate.  I guess in future I’ll have to be a bit more aware of my surroundings, although I’m not sure that whipping the camera out the next time I’m in a public convenience wouldn’t get me arrested.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bathrooms or Outhouses

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Furniture

The subject for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is furniture.   What you see in the following images is anything but ‘just part of the furniture.‘  I love ornate furniture like these chairs and table at The Hotel Chequamegon in Ashland, Wisconsin, although they are not necessarily designed for comfort.  Of course you would need the right kind of house in which to put them.  And I definitely wouldn’t want the job of dusting them every day.

Now, if you owned a place like Biltmore House in Asheville, you would need plenty of fancy furniture to fill all those rooms, like these beautiful pieces in the Salon.

In Mr. Vanderbilt’s bedroom.

In the Van Dyck Room

And in the Morland Room.

Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, Minnesota also has it’s share of fine furniture, although maybe not on quite such a grand scale.

And furniture at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois is certainly worth seeing.

 

 

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Furniture, Tables, Chairs, Sofa, etc.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Wish

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”  It’s certainly true that not everything we wish for will come true but it doesn’t stop us from trying.  And there are so many opportunities for making wishes.

A wishing tree at a Chinese Lantern Festival in the Missouri Botanic Gardens, St. Louis.

Blow out the candles on a birthday cake and make a wish, but don’t tell what it is or it will never come true.

A fancy substitute at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills; I’ve seen this described as a wishing well, although I’m sure it was never intended for that purpose.

How many times have you thrown a coin into a fountain or stood inside a fairy ring of mushrooms and made a wish?  Shown above; Buckingham Fountain in Chicago and an interesting find at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle.

For more on The Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily Post, set for us this week by Jen H, go to https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/wish/

 

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Musical Chairs

Cee invited us to play musical chairs for her Fun Foto Challenge last week.  I’m a bit late to the party but here are a few images that I thought I’d share.  Whenever we take a tour of interesting old houses I like to look at the furniture in terms of groupings when I take pictures rather than viewing the room as a whole.  Chairs very often play an important part in these sets.  There were plenty of chairs at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and one impressive pipe organ in the Grand Banquet Hall to help supply the music.

I don’t know if they ever played musical chairs at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills but there were some nice chairs and a beautiful Steinway piano if ever they felt like getting in the party mood.

Personally I dreaded being forced to play musical chairs at kids parties.  I was an only child and probably because of that, I never felt comfortable around other children.  Parties, I suppose, were something that my parents naturally thought I would enjoy but they only made me cringe and playing musical chairs was a nightmare.  These days I love sitting in chairs and listening to music.

More chairs, this time at the Taylor House in Freeport, Illinois, and two musical instruments for the price of one, a piano and flute, also at the Taylor House.  For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to https://ceenphotography.com/2016/11/29/cees-fun-foto-challenge-musical-chairs/

 

 

Thursday Doors – Cuneo

There is a wealth of doors on which to focus at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois.  Built in 1914 for Samuel Insull, the founder of Commonwealth Edison, Cuneo was opened as a museum in 1991 and was gifted to Loyola University in 2010.

We’ve been visiting Cuneo for many years but only ever saw the outside of the mansion, preferring to just wander around the gardens.  However, on this most recent trip, the doors beckoned me and I went inside.

Some of the most beautiful doors at Cuneo are the folding stained-glass doors that separate the Chapel from the Great Hall. The Chapel was originally built as a sun porch but John Cuneo Sr. had it converted for the confirmation of his children in 1941.

The mirrored doors in Julia Shepherd Cuneo’s private dressing room reflect the gold leaf treatment of the surrounding walls.

There are one or two surprises in the kitchen area including a vault where the family silver was stored.

Doors at Cuneo come in all shapes and styles from plain to ornate.  All the outer doors to the bedrooms on the second floor are latticed folding doors but the interior doors are far more elaborate.

For more on Norm’s Thursday Doors go to https://miscellaneousmusingsofamiddleagedmind.wordpress.com/2016/11/17/thursday-doors-november-17-2016/

More about other aspects of the Cuneo Mansion to follow in a later post.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Houses or Barns

This week Cee gave us the choice of houses or barns for the Fun Foto Challenge and although I have several pictures of barns, houses won the day and here’s why.  Very often, when we go on our travels around the ‘burbs and further afield, we like to visit old houses.  Sometimes we’re able to take a tour inside, other times we just gaze at them from afar.  Many of these houses have been acquired by local historical societies, while some remain privately owned. Sometimes there are admission fees, ranging from just a couple of dollars to large amounts which, in the case of the Biltmore Estate, have been well worth the expenditure.  Here are just a few of those houses.

The Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois, once owned by Samuel Insull, the original founder of the General Electric Company and later purchased by John Cuneo Sr, owner of Hawthorne Mellody Farms Dairy, the National Tea Company and the Cuneo Press, was gifted to Loyola University Chicago in 2009.  Although we never took a tour of the house, Mum and I visited the estate several times just to walk around the gardens.

The Taylor House in Freeport, Illinois is home to the Stephenson County Historical Society.  Built for lawyer and banker Oscar Taylor in 1857, it was opened as a museum in 1944. The house served as a ‘station’ for the Underground Railroad during the Civil War when fugitive slaves were hidden in the basement behind a secret door, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Known as The Little Orphan Annie House in Lombard, Illinois, this house was once home to the parents of Harold Gray the originator of the Little Orphan Annie cartoon strip.  Gray worked in a studio there until he moved to the east coast.  The house was originally built for Dr. William Leroy, who specialized in making artificial limbs for Civil War veterans, in 1881.  As far as I know it’s not open to the public and we just stood and looked at it longingly from the sidewalk.

The house at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago, DuPage County, is open to the public and historically-costumed interpreters present topics from baking in the kitchen to quilting and spring cleaning while giving tours of the farmstead.

Our most recent visit to a house with a rather murky past was in Duluth, Minnesota.  Glensheen offers several different types of tours varying in price and we opted for the ‘Classic’ one-hour, three-floor one. It’s always interesting to see how the wealthy lived and, after reading something about its history, I was curious to take a peek inside this house that was built in 1908 for the family of Chester and Clara Congdon.  According to Congdon’s will, his youngest daughter Elisabeth was allowed to live at Glensheen until her death. In 1977, an aging and frail Elisabeth, along with her nurse, were murdered here.  The husband of Elisabeth’s adopted daughter, Marjorie, was convicted of the crime. Marjorie was accused of aiding and abetting and conspiracy to commit murder but was acquitted of all charges. The estate was eventually given to the University of Minnesota Duluth.

It will take you more than one day to fully explore the house and grounds at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. I can understand why the Vanderbilt’s visitors never wanted to leave. What luxury!  Members of the Vanderbilt family still live here and have turned the estate into a flourishing business.

Some time ago we took a tour of the Oldfields-Lilley House and Gardens in Indianapolis. The weather was rather wet and gloomy and we didn’t really get to see the outside at its best so this is definitely somewhere I’d like to re-visit. Built in 1910, Oldfields was eventually given to the Art Association of Indianapolis and this National Historic Landmark is now a museum.

One of the many picturesque houses on Mackinac Island. No house tours on this trip but just fun looking at all the different styles and taking pictures.

For more on Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge go to https://ceenphotography.com/2016/10/25/cees-fun-foto-challenge-houses-andor-barns/

Halloween Challenge – Gate

Today’s subject for Jennifer Nichole Wells’ Halloween Challenge is gate, and I must admit that I had to dig deep into the photo files to come up with something for this one.  Plenty of doors but not many gates.

A gate leading into the little flower garden at Spring Valley Nature Center in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Two gates leading into the English Walled Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois.

I’m guessing these may have originally been gates although there is now a bench positioned right in front of them. Possibly decorated with Chihuly glass pieces, they were at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis.

A beautiful wrought-iron gate at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois.  For more on Jennifer’s Halloween Challenge go to https://jennifernicholewells.com/2016/10/24/jnws-halloween-challenge-gate/

 

A Word A Week Photograph Challenge: Arch

An archway with a view of the gardens at the Cuneo Mansion in Vernon Hills, Illinois.

It doesn’t have to be as enormous as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to find its way into my photo files. Arches come in all different sizes and are built for many different purposes, so here, in response to Sue Llewellyn’s Word A Week Photograph Challenge on A Word In Your Ear at http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-arch/ here are a few arches that have caught my eye whilst out and about with the camera.

An arched doorway to the Portiuncula chapel on the Peabody Estate in Mayslake.

Lazarus And The Rich Man, an arched sculpture created by Aaron Benson, in Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park.

The arched entryway to the old City Hall in Columbus, Indiana, which at that time had been converted to an hotel and which now, I believe, stands empty.

An arched gateway, decorated with glasswork created by Dale Chihuly, at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.

The arched entryway to the old Chicago Stock Exchange building on display outside the Chicago Art Institute.