Open on Thursdays from 11-4. As of April 2024, they accept a modest entrance of $2 or canned food for the food pantry per person. read more

Pleasant Home Foundation - Original entrance doors - Museums Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

I visited Chicago this past weekend with some family and friends, and it turned out to be a very architecture-heavy trip. We decided to stop by Pleasant Home since we were in Oak Park for a tour of (you guessed it) the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio. Pleasant Home was a bit of a disappointment for us, but it was probably partly our fault. I was dragging our group around to look at historic buildings all weekend, and I was a bit worried the two people less interested in architecture were beginning to get bored. When we arrived at Pleasant Home, I saw they offered guided and self-guided tours. Because I was worried a long tour might be the breaking point for two of our group, we opted for the self-guided to keep it a bit shorter. What I didn't realize is that if you do the self-guided tour, you are limited to the bottom floor of the home. You are given a single laminated sheet of paper with the floor plan and some very basic information about the house. On top of that, the bottom floor of the house has no furniture in it (with a couple of exceptions - two tables maybe?). So, while the price for the self-guided tour was reasonable (only $5 per person), you basically have access to five or so rooms with no furniture in them. We were in and out in about 15 minutes. The house is beautiful (although the lighting seemed very low, making the house appear very dark), but I cannot recommend a self-guided tour. If you're interested in the house, pay the extra $5 and arrive on the hour for a guided tour. You'll get to go upstairs and learn more about the house than what is on the laminated floor plan guide. It might be a wonderful guided tour, I can only say that the self-guided tour option is not worth doing. read more

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Pleasant Home was an impromptu stop, the grounds were beautiful and drew me in. Three staff was inviting, pleasant and knowledgeable. They were eager to discuss the history and show me all the treasures of the home itself. I was in a time crunch so couldn't benefit from the full tour, but they aren't me off with some free postcards and a fabulous seranade from the original jukebox of sorts. The tour was free but donations are welcome. read more

Pleasant Home Foundation - Museums Near Me - Oak Park, Illinois

This was a very pretty and grand home! We came here for Open House Chicago and so we were able to get in for free (and no lines)! There were guides all throughout the house that were happy to talk more about the history of the home but otherwise we were free to explore at our own leisure. As soon as you enter, you can see how beautiful the home is. It opens up to a very large lobby which connects to rooms all around it. Every so often, the play a music box that's in a room to the left of the main lobby (and what the homeowners actually got rich off of - they created them) that's absolutely amazing! Definitely make a point to seek it out if you hear music playing. In stark contrast to the downstairs, the upstairs is very plain. But that's pretty common for these older homes where they liked to show off to guests I think. Overall, this is a very nice home and I'm glad I got to do it for free as part of Open House Chicago! read more

We held a family celebration at Pleasant Home and the entire experience was perfection! Of course the home is beautiful, and everyone can learn about the history because their tour guides (Paul and their docents) are very knowledgeable. This added component to your event is very interesting and a must for you to include for guests to take turns to enjoy during your event there. Using both the inside and outside space for seating on the first sunny day in May, 2019, added to the enjoyment for our 80+ guests. Four 60" round tables on the porch allowed for a more spacious layout throughout. For anyone responsible for planning the event, you can count on Alice K., the Rental Coordinator, to guide you through the entire process and help with the set-up, take-down, and she will guide the servers working the event. Though I had to rent a couple of extra tables, Alice took her time with me at the house to design the floor plan to save us some money by using their tables at no charge. Though you will need to rent linens, plates, flatware, serving pieces, etc., there were a few things I forgot and Alice even went the extra distance to help in any way imaginable finding some baskets, pencils to play a game and a couple bowls -- little things that I had forgotten to pack that helped in the busy prep stage before the guests arrived. For anyone not accustomed to hosting events in which you need to plan and bring in prepared food, linens, possibly furniture and serving sets, Alice can advise and refer you to all the necessary vendors to assist you in making Pleasant Home into the perfect unique place for you and your guests to enjoy. read more

We considered using Pleasant Home for our wedding. We found the foundation employees to be friendly and professional with us. I think that they went beyond their regular duties when recommending other venues for our consideration. I suppose that should have been the sign to me that this was not the best place for a wedding. Just as Jenni I explained, there are a lot of restrictions that make having a wedding at Pleasant Home very challenging. Essentially, we would have to rent a tent and pay for an event caterer to put everything together for us and also security if we had alcohol. Furthermore, the caterer would need to prepare everything off site and bring it to the tent. We would be able to use the Pleasant Home for the ceremony, for pictures, and for a cocktail hour. We could have guided tours available for our guests at no additional cost. The house is impressive and beautifully restored; however, it's not really a venue for a wedding. There are too many limitations and the work around for those limitations involve paying a LOT more than what it's worth. read more

I have lived on the next block over from Pleasant home for almost two years and have always wanted to see the inside. Luckily we just happened to be walking past at the time of the last daily tour. Since it was only the two of us, we got a nice private tour without all the lagging and questions of a big group. Pleasant Home is a mansion in Oak Park that was built in 1897 for the Farson family. The family of 4 lived there first followed by the Mills family for which the park on which the house is located is named after today. The house is open for tours and and can also be rented out for events. The home and historical society also hold plays, lectures, readings, etc. there. Our guide, Kurt, was very knowledeable and passionate about the history of Oak Park and the home itself. He took us around the bottom half and a woman (Donna?) showed us around the upper part of the house which is where the Oak Park River Forest Historical Society is located. All are welcome to do their own historical research there. The tour is only $5.00 a person and takes about an hour. You are also welcome to walk around the historical society part on your own after the tour is over. read more

I had my wedding at the Pleasant Home, and there are some pros and cons, here is a list: Pros: The rental price is very reasonable The venue photographs very well There is a perfect amount of space inside the venue for 100 or less. They are pretty flexible with decor rules and allow you to use every room on the first floor You can basically bring in any vendor with venue approval; we used Blue Plate for catering (I would not recommend them) and we had our own bartender (which required a village liquor license) Cons: The neighbors/venue strictly enforce the 10:00 Oak Park noise ordinance, seriously, there were police officers at my wedding at 10:30 telling us to keep it down. Dancing is only allowed on the front porch (unless you rent a tent) All in all, the wedding was perfect, we had a second venue planned after the Pleasant Home because we were aware of the noise ordinance beforehand. I would host another event here in a heartbeat! read more

I recently held my wedding ceremony at the Pleasant Home, and we are very happy with this venue. Thanks to yelp, other reviews, and advice from Georgia the coordinator, we were warned about the strict 10pm quiet time. Because of that, and because Pleasant Home is not air conditioned, we decided to hold our ceremony here, and the reception at nearby restaurant Cucina Paradiso. I am really glad we did things the way we did. Using Pleasant Home for the ceremony was just great. Its such a beautiful spot, our guests were impressed and commented frequently. Logistically, there are a lot of options for the ceremony. There are multiple good locations on the lawn, the porch is large enough for a 130 person ceremony, and there is even room indoors if the weather is truly bad. Georgia is very sweet and helpful, but is perhaps not a natural coordinator/planner type. I hired an outside day-of coordinator (Clementine Custom Events) to handle the multiple venues and because I was planning from out of state. Everything went very smoothly and in the end I am very happy. I did not make it for a tour, but I heard second hand that its worthwhile. read more

Chicagoans familiar with the the lovely suburb nearby to our south, Oak Park, usually associate it with various attractions related to the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Visiting this lovely and well-maintained building from that same era will open your eyes to another architect of grand residences contemporary to Wright. This was a grand home and makes for a special venue today. The Foundation that runs the Home holds special events here, but it is for hire for some event you may have in mind (like a reception or even a wedding). Downstairs is the grand receiving lobby, resplendent in American oak. To the left (or directly foward if you come in from the driveway) are the joined parlor and dining room, which open out to a morning room (sun porch). All of these have large windows looking out to the southeast. Upstairs... all I can tell you is that there IS an upstairs since we never went up there. Next time. read more

My grandson had his baby naming celebration at Pleasant Home. The space was perfect for a 70 plus family affair. Beautiful home, wonderful park and places for adults and children to enjoy. Alice and her staff were so helpful and charming. Alice guided us based on her experience to have the ceremony on the porch and it was so lovely. (The "porch" -- it is too lovely a space for that name -- had room for 80 chairs and created a beautiful space for the ceremony in front of the leaded glass doors and windows.) I would highly recommend Pleasant Home to anyone planning a wedding or other family event. read more

This is a place that I strongly considered for my wedding venue, but decided to go another route. It may not be fair that I didn't actually use them and am writing a review, but I feel like there are good reasons I decided on another place and want to share. My soon-to-be and I grew up in Oak Park and had been to the adjoining park many times. So when we decided to get married this place was on the top of our list. We stopped by a public event and talked to someone there who worked for the museum who told us that she used to do the events but that they had recently hired someone else. She told us that there were some rules, but that she would work with couples to try and work around those rules to accommodate their wedding as best as they could. She described how dancing could happen on the larger front porch and how beautiful everything would be. I couldn't wait to start planning and then I met with Sarah, the new event coordinator a week later. Sarah brought me back to reality and reminded me that this place is a museum first and they do weddings kind of as an afterthought. There are a lot of restrictions which she planned on enforcing and it basically meant that I would be renting the building (for a LOT of money) and not really be able to use it for anything other than a space to take pictures and have my guest congregate. She told me that I couldn't have a DJ or dancing on the porch or inside the building for fear of the music decibels damaging the windows. I couldn't have tables and chairs in the DINING ROOM for fear of them scratching the floors - but I could have high top tables for my guests to stand at....I would have to rent a tent to be set up outside of the building in order to do any kind of food, dancing - normal things at a wedding reception. So, basically WHY was I renting this building again?? Oh, yea...after Oak Park shut us down at 10 PM because of noise outside we were welcome to come into the building to admire the inside of the building quietly. Perhaps while enjoying some coffee. NO. You also will need to have one of the 5 caterers that they approve of and it has to be someone local as they don't even have a working kitchen. She then suggested to me that maybe I could have my wedding reception at nearby Carleton Hotel of Oak Park and I could just have the wedding and cocktail hour there. THEN my guests could walk three blocks away for the real party to start. I've got an even better idea...how about I just have the whole thing there and save the trouble of working around all of your rules and regulations...I understand that they are a museum and work to preserve the location but some of these rules are crazy. If they want this many restrictions than they shouldn't be in the business of holding events - especially not ones that cost as much as they are charging. read more

This bulding and adjoining park is one of the best preserved examples of Prairie School architecture in the world by one of this period's master architects, George W. Maher. It is one of the few buildings of its kind that are fully open to the public. The Pleasant Home Board of directors struggle with raising funds to keep it up, but they have been very successful during the past few years in carrying out some very fine restoration work. read more

I haven't been here in a few years, so I can't speak to the recent docents, but I had a wonderful afternoon tour here once & at the time, they offered a private tea you could reserve for $40 ea.: a private tour followed by a formal tea in the main room. Every August they show silent movies on the porch on Friday nights for a suggested donation. A really interesting piece of Oak Park & Chicagoland history. read more

I've had some classes/events at Pleasant Home and it has always been a great experience. Georgia is great to work with and the home is just beautiful. I'm always amazed that so few people in Oak Park know about this place. The architecture, IMHO, is much more exciting than the Wright houses. If I could do my wedding over in another place, this would be the place. read more

We had a wonderful tour on a grey, chilly afternoon. The working (original!) gas fireplace was so welcoming! Our tour guide gave great information and pointed out so many architectural features that we might have missed otherwise. The designs and details in the house are truly special and worthy of seeing. We were handed off to another guide on the 2nd floor (currently operated by the OPRF Historical Society--but they will be moving out soon). Talk about a great two-for! We learned a terrific amount about Oak Park and its famous residents (although Hemingway and Wright get all the attention) while viewing the bedrooms, bathrooms, and family living room. The third floor is not open for viewing but there are photos so you can well imagine the splendor that might have existed in the early 1900s. Even if it wasn't name for its location (corner of Pleasant and Home), it is a very pleasant home to visit read more