driehaus museum tours

Driehaus Museum

Top choice in Chicago

Set in the exquisite Nickerson Mansion, the Driehaus immerses visitors in Gilded Age decorative arts and architecture. You'll feel like a Great Gatsby character as you wander three floors stuffed with sumptuous objets d'art and heaps of Tiffany stained glass. Recommended guided tours ($5 extra) are available four times daily. The price seems steep, but the museum is a prize for those intrigued by opulent interiors.

40 E Erie St. River North

Get In Touch

312-482-8933

https://​www​.driehausmuseum​.org​/

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Richard H. Driehaus Museum

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is located inside the Nickerson Mansion. This remarkable structure is situated in the heart of Chicago’s bustling River North neighborhood, just two blocks west of the Magnificent Mile—Michigan Avenue. The Richard H. Driehaus Museum is dedicated to preserving the wonders of the Nickerson Mansion and presenting objects from its permanent collection of Gilded Age art. It is open for guided tours and rotating special exhibits pertaining to the history and culture of the late nineteenth century.

Click the photos to enlarge.

Driehaus Museum History and Background Information

The Nickerson Mansion is one of Chicago’s great remaining homes of the so-called “Gilded Age”—a name for the time period between the end of the American Civil War and the start of the twentieth century that saw a burst of economic growth yield the rise of a class of fabulously wealthy individuals. The Nickerson Family built this magnificent structure between the years of 1878 and 1883, and lived there until 1900. For the next 20 years, a succession of Chicago’s wealthiest citizens resided here.

In 1920, the American College of Surgeons took over the property and made it their national headquarters—an arrangement which lasted until 1963. For the ensuing 40 years the Nickerson Mansion would be home to multiple leaseholders, businesses, and organizations. In 2003, Richard H. Driehaus purchased the home and financed a 5-year-long restoration of the structure. In 2008, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum opened to the public for the purpose of showcasing the Nickerson Mansion’s fully restored interior, Mr. Driehaus’ personal collection of Gilded Age-period art, and a range of special exhibits.

What’s at the Driehaus Museum

For most visitors, the major appeal of the Richard H. Driehaus Museum consists of two elements: the Nickerson Mansion and the variety of temporary special exhibits the Museum sponsors and hosts. The Nickerson Mansion itself is considered a sparkling example of a restored, late-19 th Century American home. Particular highlights of the interior include its grand Main Hall, breathtaking Library, and beautiful Ballroom.

The interior of the Mansion is also home to several outstanding period pieces belonging to the Driehaus Museum’s permanent collection. Standout selections include a Chickering and Sons grand piano, a Tiffany table lamp, a Bavarian gem-set inkstand, and much more. Recent special exhibits have included shows devoted to the Chicago’s World Fair of 1893 and the fashion of Downtown Abbey .

While there are no dining options available at the Driehaus Museum, its prominent location in Chicago’s glamorous River North neighborhood just two blocks west of Michigan Avenue means that there are plenty of restaurants, cafés, and bars nearby. There are additional amenities here, too, though. A wheelchair-accessible entrance can be found right next to the Museum’s main entrance, while despite its age, the entire building is serviced by an elevator.

The Driehaus Museum Store is your go-to option here for a nice assortment of souvenirs and collectibles. Here you’ll find a pleasant mixture of fun knickknacks and period-appropriate pieces. That means everything from vintage clothing to boutique jewelry, as well as books, notebooks, candles, and tea sets.

Tips for Visiting the Driehaus Museum

• The Driehaus Museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays between the hours of 10:00am and 5:00pm.
• For those groups or families traveling with children, admission to the Driehaus Museum is free for anyone under the age of 12 years old. The Driehaus Museum also offers a variety of discounts for college students, teachers, and active military personnel.
• For those visitors traveling to the Driehaus Museum via car, please be advised that there is no on-site parking available. Some on-street parking is available in the immediate area of the Museum, though, and there are many parking garages to be found nearby. The Driehaus Museum does also validate parking for a self-park garage located at 50 East Ohio Street (which is located just two blocks straight south of the Museum); the current rate (subject to change) is $15 for up to 6 hours. There are many public transportation options running frequently nearby, too.
• For the most part, photography is allowed and welcomed within the Driehaus Museum—so have your cameras/phones ready to go! However, flash photography and the taking of videos here are strictly prohibited, and occasionally, in the case of certain special exhibits, certain objects may be subject to copyright protection—making them off-limits from photographing, too.

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The Driehaus Museum

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum engages and inspires the global community through exploration and ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions are presented in an immersive experience within the restored Samuel Mayo Nickerson Mansion, completed in 1883, at the height of the Gilded Age, and the 1926 Murphy Auditorium. The Museum’s collection reflects and is inspired by the collecting interests, vision, and focus of its founder, the late Richard H. Driehaus.

The Museum is located just steps from the Magnificent Mile. The exquisite building was saved twice, first by a collective of over 100 Chicago citizens in 1919, and then by philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus, who sponsored its restoration from 2003-2008.

More information is available at driehausmuseum.org

June 2024 update: The Murphy is Open! We made news on Friday, June 21st with the opening of the Murphy Auditorium as part of the Driehaus Museum campus. 

Introducing  Free  Third Wednesday Nights! On the third Wednesday of every month, admission is free from 5:00-7:00 pm and we’ll be featuring special programming in the Murphy Auditorium. Our new entrance: 50 E. Erie , at the Murphy Auditorium  

The Museum offers both private and guided tours and has a downloadable app for a self-guided experience. Consult the website for more information

Image: The Main Hall. Photo by Steve Hall of Hedrich Blessing, 2008.

Current and Upcoming Events at The Driehaus Museum

Chicago collects: jewelry in perspective, ocean's eight: silver screen gem series, third wednesday nights: antiphonal brass, open house chicago, photographing frank lloyd wright, past events, driehaus museum store trunk show, brick of chicago summer walking tours, walking chicago's alleys, baubles and bubbles, jewelry in perspective virtual conference, introducing chicago collects: jewelry in perspective, berenika boberska | exploring california's lithium valley, a celebration of a tale of today | five years of contemporary art at the driehaus museum, curator-led tour: a tale of today, artist talk and book signing: sif itona westerberg, sif itona westerberg: twin flame, double ruin, drie-cember holiday pop-up concerts, santa saturday, gilded gala: past, present, future, glass to garden: tiffany inspired floral designs, new york's gilded age mansions, hector guimard's designs for living: a forum for new research & ideas, parallel tracks: the design and development of the cta in relation to the paris métro, le style métro: guimard, subways, and the modern city (virtual), hector guimard: art nouveau to modernism, the art and craft of bookbinding workshop, louis sullivan's architecture and chicago's labor movement (virtual), louis sullivan and cultural memory in chicago’s south side (virtual), santa and aunt holly are coming to town, the art of architecture: perspectives on sullivan & nickel, capturing louis sullivan: what richard nickel saw, the driehaus museum's 14th birthday, making cyanotypes: a hands-on art workshop , saturnine gallery talk...featuring the blue moon cocktail, opening reception for theodora allen: saturnine , theodora allen: saturnine, virtual lecture: inventing the gilded age: chicago goes shopping, enchanted encounters for kids: a virtual visit with aunt holly, sounds of the season, enchanted encounters for kids: a virtual visit with santa claus, (re)discover driehaus museum, a tale of today: nate young & mika horibuchi, friday private guide-led tours, pan: prints of avant-garde europe, 1895-1900, virtual story time at the driehaus museum: what is an architect, live from the drawing room, examining the exhibition: eternal light, santa at the driehaus museum, visit levere memorial temple in evanston with dr. jay winter and dr. elizabeth de rosa, american commemorative art and the sacralization of memory, book club: goodbye to all that by robert graves, making a masterpiece: stained-glass demonstration with celia hunt, chicago opera theater's everest/aleko, chicago's oldest cemetery: a spooky lincoln park walking tour, alternative truths: the tiffany women, the chicago flag's tipsy history, in progress: a tale of today emerging artist fellows, family day: secret stories and sacred symbols, a novel experience: the joffrey ballet's jane eyre, saints & sinners walking tour: chicago's legacy of virtue and vice, tiffany of the midwest: the ecclesiastical windows of milwaukee, beyond the glass ceiling: agnes northrop, a tale of today fellowship: pop up opening reception, eternal light: the sacred stained glass of louis comfort tiffany, mccormickville walking tour, young chicago authors: bomb squad – a tale of today spoken word, in conversation: darrell mckinney and luis rodríguez rosario, oscar wilde salon series: the picture of dorian gray screening, oscar wilde salon series: examining wilde through the queer lens, streeterville walking tour, family book club: oscar wilde’s fairytales, in conversation: brittney leeanne williams and jeffly gabriela molina, family day: art makers workshop—ankara accessories, signature lecture with fashion designer walé oyéjidé, oscar wilde salon series: the picture of dorian gray book club, the cornerstore live podcast recording with kevin coval, rockin’ ragtime with the music institute of chicago, fashion & fabric: textiles, trade & africa, when modern was: a dialogue with past and present, irish rebel, imperial reformer: charles gavan duffy and the british, opening day panel discussion: yinka shonibare cbe, a tale of today: yinka shonibare mbe, prost beer culture and chicago's german immigrants, holiday cabaret: the most wonderful time of year, santa at the museum, gilded age traditions and holiday tea at the drake, front porch concert featuring the festive singers, "every stroke telling": john singer sargent and gilded age portraiture, 10th anniversary gala, treasures from the white city: chicago world’s fair of 1893, gilded chicago: portraits of an era, beauty's legacy: gilded age portraits in america, living dangerously: the social change work of jane addams and the hull-house settlement, designing women: refining landscapes with vivian beer, leading ladies of chicago’s columbian exposition, designing women: florence knoll, family day: the three bears & their chairs, the chair: rethinking culture, body, & design, flowers for mom make a mother’s day centerpiece, a toast to the gilded age: bourbon, bowties, & bonnets, depaul at the driehaus: chamber music showcase, family day - marionette show, meet the experts: art rescue 911, the art of seating private collector diane jacobsen, musical chairs: a concert and discussion on the art of seating, family day - create a spring hat, family day - african american history month, the art of seating: 200 years of american design, holiday raffle benefiting the driehaus museum, the french connection: music and posters of the belle époque, music and conversation about l'affichomania, 7th annual murder mystery - unsolved murder at the chicago world's fair, signature lecture with marcus mucha - alphonse mucha: the man, the artist, the legacy, l’affichomania: the passion for french posters.

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum

Price & Hours

• Facilities 3.5
• Atmosphere 4.0

Occupying a restored mansion built in 1883, the Richard H. Driehaus Museum presents exhibitions relating to architecture, art and design from the 19th century to the present day.

The Nickerson Mansion containing the museum boasts an entrance hall made with so much marble that the building was nicknamed "the Marble Palace." (The museum takes its current name from the philanthropist who founded it in 2003.) Its reception room features intricate woodwork as well as items from the museum's permanent collection, such as a Tiffany Studios lamp that dates back to the early 1900s. Meanwhile, the front parlor displays Renaissance Revival furniture original to the Nickerson Mansion. The dining room, fitted with elaborately carved oak, houses a silver punch bowl first exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Other highlights from the permanent collection include a gem-encrusted inkstand, a ceramic clock, multiple chandeliers, paintings, sculptures and an array of decorative items.

What recent travelers say

Visitors invariably find both the grand structure and its collection of period pieces impressive. Reviewers also praise the knowledgeable staff and compare the mansion to the Frick Collection in New York City .

The Driehaus Museum sits at the intersection of Erie and Wabash just two blocks from The Magnificent Mile and easily accessed by the same public transportation used to reach that stretch of Michigan Avenue.

It's open Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission costs $20 for adults; $15 for seniors and $10 for students; children 12 and younger, active military servicemembers and museum members can enter at no charge. Hourlong guided tours are available for an additional fee of $5; private group tours are also offered. Tours offer information on the mansion's history and architecture, the museum collections and exhibition highlights and come highly recommended by past visitors.

For more information, visit the official website .

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Chicago › Attraction

Driehaus museum.

It’s like the Gilded Age never quite left the Driehaus Museum, and that’s just how owner and investment manager Richard Driehaus likes it. Driehaus, an art collector and philanthropist, whose Driehaus Capital Management firm is cattycorner from the museum, “discovered” this home in 1994, and in 2003, founded the museum. The home was originally built in 1879 by Samuel Nickerson, who’d made his money by scoring a contract to sell alcohol to the Union army during the Civil War (he later became president of First National Bank of Chicago). Constructed by more than 600 artisans from Italy and Germany, it was, at the time, the largest and most opulent house in the city, and its 17 types of marble earned it the nickname The Marble Palace. Over the years, the home changed hands a number of times, but thanks to restoration by Driehaus, it remains in pristine condition.

Today, the art inside is a combination of art owned by the Nickerson family, along with the Driehaus collection, which includes an extensive array of glass from Louis Comfort Tiffany. Although self-guided audio tours are available, I highly recommend taking one of the staff-guided tours offered throughout the day (tours focus on the house, the revolving second-floor exhibits, or both, and cost only $5 more than general admission). The guides are not only knowledgeable about Driehaus and Nickerson, but also adept at discussing the home’s place in the larger context of Chicago history. The museum also offers themed tours seasonally, and my tour guide mentioned a tour led by characters dressed as servants, speaking about the house from their perspective, which has quite a bit of quirky potential. Tip: As you’re wandering around the house, ask to see the servants’ quarters, and one of the staff members will take you to where the current offices are, today. It’s a narrow hallway with access to the back-of-the-house stairs and photos of the cots where the help slept. It’s an eye-opening contrast to the elegance surrounding you. Allow 1 to 2 hours.

- Kate Silver

Note : This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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Our star system does not denote hotel amenities but it does denote the level of our approval. A place with one star is worth a look—after all, it made the list. A rating of two stars means it's excellent, and three stars is the highest praise we give.

Tomsk Memorial Museum – Former NKVD Prison

The Tomsk memorial museum is housed within a former NKVD (Stalin’s secret police and a forerunner to the KGB) headquarters and prison and is a stark and gloomy place to visit.

Which is not surprising considering the unspeakable horrors that once took place there.

The museum attempts to highlight what life was like during the height of Stalin’s terror in the 1930s.

It shows what happened to ordinary citizens whose only crimes were disobeying the views of Stalin.

Short History of the NKVD

On the surface, the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) acted as an ordinary police force and carried out enforcement duties as you would expect.

However, the much-feared element of the NKVD was the classified activities that they had the power to undertake.

Working closely with the Main Directorate for State Security , (also known as the GUGB ) the “Soviet Secret Police” arm of the NKVD protected state security using extreme measures.

Acting at the whim of Stalin’s paranoia, huge political repression was at the center of the dictator’s rule. He sanctioned political murders and assassinations on a grand scale and the NKVD were the ones that did most of the dirty work.

• Related Content: Inside the Unit 731 Museum, Harbin

The NKVD Prison in Tomsk

Far out in the Siberian steppe is the remote city of Tomsk. It is one of the oldest cities in Siberia and in winter it is as bleak as you might imagine.

In fact, during Soviet times Tomsk was a “closed” city which meant Soviet citizens without the relevant passes could not enter. Foreigners, of course, couldn’t get anywhere near it.

The former NKVD prison was active throughout the 1920s into the 1940s, and for many, it was the first stop before being sent onto one of the many Siberian Gulags.

Harsh interrogation bordering on torture was commonplace. The lives of many innocent victims were destroyed here.

Incarcerated for speaking out against the ills of Stalin, the suffering endured for simply having an opinion, is difficult to comprehend.

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Visiting the Tomsk Memorial NKVD Prison Museum

Established in 1995, the Tomsk NKVD Museum was the first museum to focus on the history of political repressions to appear in the post-Soviet landscape.

It was a very important step, especially when you consider that this was just a handful of years after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Visiting the museum today and you can experience permanent exhibitions such as the renovated jail corridor, the inside of an investigator’s office and being inside a prison cell.

Former cells are also used for the different sections of the museum. These are specific to repressions that occurred in the Tomsk region and include exhibits called “The Great Terror”, “Execution Quest”, “Kolpashevsky Yar”, and “The Gulag and Narym krai Settlers”.

The museum also contains biographical materials and copies of documents that once belonged to famous dissidents who spoke out against Stalin. These include items by poet N.A. Klyuev , and Duke M.M. Dolgorukov.

There are also artifacts that provide insight into the nature the more everyday nature of the former prison and life inside for both victim and captor.

This section of the museum contains copies of investigation files, administrative letters, and notes. There’s the “mundane” personal items of incarcerated local citizens as well as small trinkets that were made by the prisoners.

After returning from exile, Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was the first honorable guest to visit the museum.

The building also operates as a historical victim resource center with an electronic database containing the information on over 200,000 people that were known to have suffered at the hands of the NKVD in the Tomsk Oblast.

• Related Content: House of Terror Museum – Nazi & Communist Crimes in Budapest

Memory Square

While visiting the museum you should also head to Memory Square which is situated close by.

Here you will find monuments to the victims of Bolshevik terror in the Tomsk region. There are also poignant memorials dedicated to other repressed peoples that lived and suffered throughout the wider Soviet Union.

The Museum and the Square are said to be one of the most visited sites in Tomsk, so ensure that you check them out.

Where is the Tomsk Memorial NKVD Prison Museum?

• Address: Lenin Ave, 44, Tomsk, Tomsk Oblast, Russia, 634050
• Phone: +7 382 251-61-33

Good to Know

English-language tours should be booked in advance in order to guarantee an English speaking guide on the day you arrive. A lot of the exhibit descriptions are in Russian so a guide is highly recommended.

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Brick of Chicago Summer Walking Tours

September 4 SOLD OUT!, 2024 Read below for tour times. -->

Note: This tour is now sold out.

The built environment of Chicago features a dozen variety of bricks and even more brick designs. The Nickerson Mansion was built with two types of brick: Cream City, which originated in Milwaukee and is so-called because of the light color that results from the type of clay deposits used, and Chicago Common brick. As the name suggests, it is widespread throughout the city and was made from clay from the Chicago River. There are many very fine examples of brick buildings in the area around the Driehaus Museum, and architectural expert Will Quam will take you on a tour through some of the highlights, including the Medinah Temple and the Allerton Hotel.

Check in outside at the 50 E. Erie entrance. A staff member will begin check-in 5-10 minutes prior to start time. This program runs rain or shine. The tour does not include admission to the Museum.

Please Note: These are not part of the Free Third Wednesday events.

DATES AND TIMES OF TOURS:

Wednesday, September 4, 2:00-3:00 pm

About the Speaker:

Will Quam is an architecture photographer and historian based in Chicago. His project Brick of Chicago has been featured on CBS, Fox32, WTTW, WGN, Block Club Chicago, ArchDaily, and in many more outlets. His walking tours have been named some of Chicago’s best by Curbed and the Chicago Reader.

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