This house museum is accessible.
This house museum is available for events.
Tours: Wed, 11am & 12:30pm; Sat, 9:30am, 10am, 11am, & 11:30am
F. S. Peabody named his highest-grade coal after his champion horse Great Heart, who set the high jumping world record at eight feet and three inches in 1923. Great Heart coal was used on Admiral Richard E. Byrd's 1939 expedition to the South Pole.
Mayslake Peabody Estate
1717 31st Street, Oak Brook, IL 60523, USA630-206-9588
Mayslake Hall was built in 1921 as the retirement home for Francis Stuyvesant Peabody of Peabody Coal, one of the nation’s largest coal producers. Its architect, Benjamin Marshall, was acclaimed for his historical revival designs, and Mayslake Hall is an outstanding example of Tudor Revival architecture. It now serves as an education and cultural center for the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.
Interior
Exterior
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ANIMALS
STAIRCASES
Behind a panel in Mayslake Hall's upstairs library, a secret staircase winds down one floor to a study. Behind a liquor cabinet doing double duty as a door, it then leads to the basement, which is home to a Turkish steam bath and a room for men to enjoy smoking, games, and a drink.
House Museums related to "STAIRCASES"
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RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY
After F. S. Peabody’s death, the next occupant of Mayslake Hall was the Order of the Franciscans Minor. For 76 years the friars used the house and grounds as a retreat center, during which time they hosted more than 250,000 people on weekend retreats.
House Museums related to "RELIGION/SPIRITUALITY"
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GHOSTS
Legend has it that Mr. Peabody is buried in a glass casket, with his ghost roaming Mayslake’s grounds. He and his son were indeed buried at the estate, though they are now at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hinsdale. The glass casket idea might come from St. Innocentius, a martyr child once displayed in a glass casket at Mayslake by the Franciscans.
House Museums related to "GHOSTS"
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HEARTH
The exceptionally large fireplace in the Mayslake Hall library is surrounded by carvings of gargoyles, a bagpiper, and a flutist. Having made his fortune in coal, F. S. Peabody proudly installed a coal-burning fireplace, often considered inferior, in his office on the first floor. Amazingly, not one of the nine fireplaces in the house was ever used.
House Museums related to "HEARTH"
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FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS
Together with Alberta Potter Palmer, May Henderson Peabody hosted a fundraiser at Mrs. Palmer’s house to raise funds for the Children’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Later her son, Stuyvesant ‘Jack’ Peabody, headed the $5 Campaign, an effort to raise funds for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition.
House Museums related to "FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS"
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PRESERVATION
Mayslake Hall is a house under restoration. Its room-by-room approach gives visitors a view of the fascinating process in action, while telling the story of the life of a building, its role in history, and its connection to the community.
House Museums related to "PRESERVATION"
- Frances Willard House Museum
- Pleasant Home
- Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: The Robie House
- Roger Brown Study Collection
- Clarke House Museum
- Charnley-Persky House Museum
- Frank Lloyd Wright Trust: Wright Home and Studio
- 6018North
- National Public Housing Museum
- Pullman House Project
- Glessner House
- The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace
- Schweikher-Langsdorf Home & Studio
- Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
- The Grove National Historic Landmark
- Rudolph Glasner Studio by Edgar Miller
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ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
Wide, tall chimneys are one of the identifying features of Tudor Revival-style architecture. Mayslake’s terracotta chimney pots are decorated with a fleur-de-lis, rope, and Tudor rose motif. The chimney pots above the servant quarters are unadorned, one of the ways architectural design reflects the occupants’ hierarchy within.
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
- 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
- The Ansel B. Cook House
- Rudolph Glasner Studio by Edgar Miller
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BOOKS
F. S. Peabody possessed an extensive library. After his death it was dispersed among his heirs and partly sold. A Mayslake volunteer, working in a second-hand bookstore, came across four books, all inscribed to "F. S Peabody" by his father for Christmas of 1896. They now are back at Mayslake Hall.
House Museums related to "BOOKS"
- International Museum of Surgical Science
- Frances Willard House Museum
- Pleasant Home
- Charnley-Persky House Museum
- Robert R. McCormick Museum/Cantigny
- 6018North
- Glessner House
- The Ernest Hemingway Birthplace
- Adlai E. Stevenson II Historic Home
- Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
- The Grove National Historic Landmark
- Kalo Foundation/Iannelli Studio
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NATURE
The 87-acre Mayslake Forest Preserve is home to five different ecosystems: a high-quality restored prairie; an oak savannah, one of the most endangered ecosystems in Illinois; a marsh; a wetland; and two lakes.
House Museums related to "NATURE"
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Interior
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Exterior
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