31st Annual Housewalk: Historic Homes Transformed

Discounted advance tickets are now on sale until May 14th for the Wilmette Historical Museum’s 31st annual Spring Housewalk, “Historic Homes Transformed.  This year's housewalk will be held on Sunday, May 20, 2018, from 1:00-5:00 p.m, and features four beautiful historic homes in east Wilmette, including one Local Landmark. Homeowners have embraced original features of each home while transforming the interior spaces to suit their individual tastes and lifestyles.  The homes provide four great examples of ways to enjoy living in an older home in 2018.  Housewalk highlights include beautiful original fireplaces, pristinely maintained custom wood paneling and ironwork from the 1920s, as well as dramatic, modern kitchens and rustic contemporary interiors with old barn wood beams and doors.  Ticket-holders will tour inside a gracious home designed by Edwin Clark, architect for Plaza Del Lago’s Spanish-style complex and many of the Thorne Rooms at the Chicago Art Institute, a beautifully restored 1880s home with original barn, and two elegant homes from the early 1900s, one a Local Landmark. 

Additional details about the Housewalk and how to purchase tickets can be found here. 

 

 
Member-only Tour: Wilmette Pump Station

Dick Lanyon, retired Executive Director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and author of two books on the building of the canal to reverse the Chicago River, will take us on a unique tour of the Wilmette Pump Station explaining its history and inner workings. Because of the popularity of these tours, they are now sold out. We are taking a limited number of names for the waiting list. 
Current Exhibit: Exploring West Wilmette

Come browse our newest exhibit on the history of west Wilmette, an area whose very definition has changed over time, and is even now a matter about which locals disagree.  The exhibit looks for west Wilmette in many places, exploring its cultural geography with special attention to the housing boom of the 1950s that turned family farms into distinctive new subdivisions.  “Exploring West Wilmette” will be at the Museum through May 20, 2018.