Travel Tips

Edward Libbey was born in New England, but moved out to Toledo in the late 19th century to build up the fledging glass industry here. It was largely his leadership which made Toledo the "glass capital" at the turn of the century, and his name has become synomous with glass in the USA - especially with iced tea glasses! He and his wife were also the movers behind the creation of the Toledo Art Museum - no slouch was he - and their collecting zeal rivaled that of other great industrial barons like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick. They lived in this relatively modest mansion a few miles to the west of downtown Toledo - in a neighborhood which has an outstanding example of American architectural types from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

IMHO, green really works on this house. I don't know if it is "historically accurate," but sometimes I think that you can take historic preservation too far.

I've always wanted a house like this - preferably with a porch swing. There's a real etiquette of porch sitting in the Midwest. When you are sitting out on your porch swing, it is essential for you to extend a greeting to all of your neighbors as they walk by. If it is a warm summer evening, and you know the person fairly well, you must ask them if they would like to come up and join you for an iced tea. In this scenario, they must refuse: "Oh no, I don't want to bother you." Then, if you really do want the other person to join you, you ask a second time: "Are you sure? You're looking very hot. A cool drink would be good for you." It's only the second inivitation which can be properly accepted - according to Midwestern etiquette, that is.

I think this house is a little pretentious for the Midwest. It seems to have fallen down on its luck a bit - perhaps a shade of "The Magnificent Ambersons." Look at the beater cars parked out front.

Not all of these neighborhood homes have porches. I wonder what the yard looks like underneath all that snow.

It's the fate of many mansions to be broken down into rental units. I'm sure some of these are beautiful apartments - but I wonder if any of the units are inhabited by the ghosts of the former bourgeois residents of this once stately home.