The Dark Story of the Gilded Age Mansion Designed to Humiliate a Rival Dynasty

On October 19th, 1897, George Mortimer Pullman died in his Prairie Avenue mansion. He left behind a railroad empire that controlled overnight travel across America. He also left behind a fortress he had loathed for ten years. Blank granite walls facing the street. No first-floor windows. Built between eighteen eighty-five and eighteen eighty-seven by farm equipment manufacturer John Jacob Glessner, who deliberately rejected every principle of Victorian architecture. The house sat at eighteen hundred South Prairie Avenue, directly across from Pullman's ornate chateau. Architect Henry Hobson Richardson designed it that way. Pullman called it "that thing" staring him in the face every time he went out his door. He watched granite walls rise for eighteen months, spring eighteen eighty-six through December eighteen eighty-seven. Every day the fortress appearance became more pronounced. Every day it became clearer this house was rejecting everything his mansion represented. Richardson positioned blank walls to face Pullman's mansion directly. Architectural message: Your mansion means nothing to us. Your ornament impresses no one here. We will turn our backs to you in granite. Pullman employed fourteen thousand workers in a company town where he owned every building. Workers earned nine dollars seven cents every two weeks before rent. After Pullman took his cut, seven cents remained. May eighteen ninety-four, three thousand Pullman workers struck. One hundred twenty-five thousand railroad workers joined boycott. Federal troops killed at least thirty-four people. Pullman refused to negotiate. Eugene Debs jailed six months. Pullman died hated by thousands eighteen ninety-seven. Mansion demolished nineteen twenty-two per widow's will. Lot became bus depot. Glessner House still stands. Workers who built both were not recorded by name. Subscribe to see which robber baron rivalry we investigate next.
Chapters:
0:06 - Introduction
1:52 - Chapter 1: The Salesman Who Became a Vice President
11:42 - Chapter 2: The Haymarket Bombing
19:18 - Chapter 3: The Architect Who Hated Ornament
29:15 - Chapter 4: Walls That Insulted
37:34 - Chapter 5: The Chateau That Demanded Attention
45:57 - Chapter 6: The Town Pullman Owned
53:50 - Chapter 7: The Strike of 125,000
1:02:33 - Chapter 8: The Mansions' Different Fates
1:12:52 - Chapter 9: The Workers Who Built Both
1:20:27 - Chapter 10: The Legacy Tours Don't Mention
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Educational documentary created for commentary, criticism and research.
Archival material used under Fair Use (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act).

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