This house museum is accessible.
Seasonal guided tours. Private tours by appointment.
To transform the Cook House into a civic library in the early 1920s, the domestic Victorian exterior underwent a few “improvements”, including stucco and a Greek Revival-style portico. .However, the interior was preserved along with such original features as a lovely wooden staircase, pine floors, wood trim, and marble fireplaces.
The Ansel B. Cook House
413 North Milwaukee Avenue, Libertyville, IL 60048, USA847-362-2330
The Ansel B. Cook House was built in 1878 by its namesake on the site of the first permanent dwelling in Libertyville. After Mr. Cook’s death, the residence served as the Cook Memorial Library for nearly 50 years, and today it houses the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society. Inside are two floors of period rooms, decorated with a collection of Victorian-era furnishings and Cook family artifacts.
Interior
Exterior
X
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
House Museums related to "ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES"
- International Museum of Surgical Science
- Frances Willard House Museum
- Pleasant Home
- Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: The Robie House
- Roger Brown Study Collection
- Loyola at Cuneo Mansion and Gardens
- Clarke House Museum
- Charnley-Persky House Museum
- Evanston History Center at the Charles Gates Dawes House
- Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: Wright Home and Studio
- 6018North
- Pullman House Project
- Mayslake Peabody Estate
- Glessner House
- Adlai E. Stevenson II Historic Home
- Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
- McCormick House at Elmhurst Art Museum
- Schweikher-Langsdorf Home & Studio
- The Driehaus Museum
- Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
- Rudolph Glasner Studio by Edgar Miller
X
FURNITURE
The Cook House is completely decorated with furniture from the Victorian Era. Of special note are a rare half-canopy bed in the master bedroom and Eastlake furniture in the front parlor.
HEARTH
Seven marble fireplaces grace the Cook House. Mr. Cook, a successful Chicago mason whose flagstones paved the city’s first sidewalks, selected the highest-quality stone for his home.
House Museums related to "HEARTH"
X
FAMILY
Mr. Cook and his family were prominent citizens of Libertyville, back then a small village north of Chicago. Their portraits—including Mr. Cook, his father Willard, wife Helen, daughter Ida, and son-in-law Dr. Albert Strong—grace the rooms of the Cook House.
FASHION
Wedding dresses of Libertyville brides are displayed in several rooms of the house, showing how fashion transformed during the period the Cooks lived there, approximately 1880 to 1920.
House Museums related to "FASHION"
X
RELICS
Perhaps the most unusual item in the house is a Wide Awake banner from 1860, prominently displayed in the upstairs hall. The political group played a large part in getting Abraham Lincoln elected.
House Museums related to "RELICS"
X
HISTORIC FIGURES
A rare portrait of Samuel Insull hangs in the upstairs office. The utilities magnate had a vast holding company that collapsed in the 1930s, and built what is now the Cuneo Mansion.
House Museums related to "HISTORIC FIGURES"
- International Museum of Surgical Science
- Frances Willard House Museum
- Loyola at Cuneo Mansion and Gardens
- Charnley-Persky House Museum
- Evanston History Center at the Charles Gates Dawes House
- Robert R. McCormick Museum/Cantigny
- Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: Wright Home and Studio
- National Public Housing Museum
- Pullman House Project
- Adlai E. Stevenson II Historic Home
- Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
- The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace
- McCormick House at Elmhurst Art Museum
- Schweikher-Langsdorf Home & Studio
- The Driehaus Museum
- Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
- 6018North
- Kalo Foundation/Iannelli Studio
X
ARCHIVES
The LMHS archives contain documents, photographs, postcards, newspapers, books, ephemera, and other media covering local people, places, and events of note in Libertyville history. Access by appointment.
House Museums related to "ARCHIVES"
- International Museum of Surgical Science
- Frances Willard House Museum
- Roger Brown Study Collection
- Evanston History Center at the Charles Gates Dawes House
- Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: Wright Home and Studio
- The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace
- Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
- The Grove National Historic Landmark
- Kalo Foundation/Iannelli Studio
X
KITCHEN
A Garland stove, made in nearby Detroit by the Michigan Stove Company, anchors the kitchen and a pantry filled with culinary tools of a bygone era.
House Museums related to "KITCHEN"
X
Interior
image credit:
Exterior
image credit: