The Ashlin House Museum
An 1893 house museum in Kenwood with a walled garden, open to small memorials and receptions.
About this venue
Origin story
The house was left to a neighborhood trust in 1974 by the last member of the family that built it, on the condition that it never become apartments. Events began in 2009 when the trust worked out what the roof was going to cost.
Why families choose us
Eleven rooms of a house somebody actually lived in, kept as it was in 1912, with a walled garden behind it that most visitors do not expect. We open the ground floor and the garden for memorials — thirty-five people in the double parlor, up to eighty in the garden when the weather holds. It is a museum first, so there are rules we will not bend: no open flame indoors, nothing pinned or taped to the walls, and food and drink in the garden or the kitchen only. Everything else we will work with. Our curator will happily tell your guests the history of the house for ten minutes if the family wants that, and will stay entirely out of the way if they do not. Hire supports the house, which has no city funding and a roof that never stops needing it.
Spaces & pricing
Space
Capacity
Starting price
Two connected rooms on the ground floor with the original furnishings, opened up with folding chairs for a service or left as they are for a reception.
35 seated
$850 with the garden, four hours
A brick-walled garden with mature limes, a gravel path and a lawn. Food and drink are served here or in the kitchen, never in the museum rooms.
80 standing
$450 for three hours, May to October
Common questions
Can we have food inside the house?
Only in the kitchen or the garden. The rooms are furnished as they were in 1912 and we cannot risk them, which we would rather say now than on the day.
Is the house accessible?
The garden and the ground floor are reached by a ramp at the side door, and there is an accessible restroom. The upper floors have stairs only.
What happens if it rains?
The parlor is held as cover for every garden booking at no extra charge, and the decision can wait until two hours before you start.
What families say
New to EndCo — be among the first. No family has written about The Ashlin House Museum here yet.
Did you work with The Ashlin House Museum?
Reviews here come from families who have actually sat with a member. If you spent time with them, a few sentences about how it went is the most useful thing the next family can read.
Service area
Address
4812 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60615
Travels to
South Side / Near South · Downtown / Central
Location
4812 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60615
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