The Walt Disney House & Birthplace in Chicago welcomed “ordinary guests” for the first time ever this past weekend—and proved there’s a huge public demand to go inside the house where Walt Disney was born and lived the first four and one half years of his life. I was there on Sunday, October 15.

The house was one of many structures that could be visited as part of Open House Chicago, a free annual event organized by the Chicago Architecture Center, the same organization responsible for Chicago’s popular architectural river cruises and excellent architectural walking tours.

No, you can’t visit the Walt Disney House & Birthplace now. Open House Chicago was an unusual opportunity. Also, what guests saw on October 14 and 15 is not what they will eventually experience.

This isn’t a normal Yesterland article about a defunct feature of a theme park. It’s a look at a place that’s in a state of becoming. The house is still a work in progress, but its restoration has made enormous progress.

, Curator of Yesterland, October 20, 2023

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Banner offering free tours

The Walt Disney House & Birthplace was just one of 170 places in this year’s Open House Chicago. It wasn’t the biggest or flashiest. It was quite distant from the main cluster of sites in and near downtown. And it certainly didn’t provide the amazing city views that some skyscrapers offered. But it garnered a lot of attention.

The Disney house appeared as one of three featured images on the main landing page of the Open House Chicago website (along with the Edgewater Beach Apartments and a photo of an iPhone running the Open House Chicago app). Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ and the local ABC television affiliate WLS ran stories about the house ahead of the event. Articles about Open House Chicago prominently mentioned the Disney birthplace as a noteworthy addition to the 2023 collection of sites.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Visitors waiting to get in, lined up to the next block

Here’s how the Open House Chicago website described the house and its history:

“A carpenter with a growing family, Elias Disney decided to build a home and put down roots in Chicago. He purchased property on the southwest corner of Tripp Avenue and Palmer Street on October 31, 1891. A year later, Elias obtained a permit to build a two-story wood cottage for $800. Flora, Walt’s mother, drew up the architectural plans and Elias built the house. The Disneys settled into their new home with their two sons, Herbert and Raymond. Shortly thereafter, they welcomed a third son, Roy. Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, on the second floor. The family sold the home in 1906 and moved to Marceline, Missouri.

“In 1991, Chicago attempted to designate the property as a historical landmark, but the owner fought the designation and won, putting the home at risk of demolition. Today, new owners are working with the City to protect the home and restore it to its 1901 state.”

According to the website, 20 people would be allowed inside every 45 minutes for a guided tour.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Front of the line

I arrived at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. The house was scheduled to open at noon. There was already a line down to the next street and around the corner. As a dues-paying Chicago Architecture Center member, I had a Priority Access Pass on my iPhone, allowing me to get into a much shorter Priority Access line. I wondered if people at the back of the line would ever get in—even those who arrived before it opened.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

The first group to enter

The door opened promptly at noon. After I showed my Priority Access Pass, I was part of the first group to enter.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Rey Colón, Chicago Project Lead and former Chicago Alderman, 35th Ward

Rey Colón, Chicago Project Lead for the Walt Disney Birthplace Restoration, provided an informative introduction. He described how Elias Disney came to Chicago to work as a carpenter on the construction of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. He personally built a small wooden house in the new Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago, following plans drawn up by his wife Flora. They moved in with two sons. By the time the family moved to Marceline, Missouri is 1906, they had five childen—with Walt being the second youngest.

Subsequent owners made changes to the house. The house was raised, with a full basement added. An addition added square footage to the rear. For years, the house was a rental property, with one apartment on each of the two floors. The house was enveloped in synthetic siding; its windows had been moved; its porch had been removed; its interior had been completely reconfigured. Elias Disney would not have recognized it.

After the 1991 failure to designate the house as a Chicago historical landmark, anything could have happened—including demolition.

In 2013, theme park professionals Brent Young and Dina Benadon purchased the historic house, founded an organization to restore it, and developed bold plans for its future.

The restoration would be challenging. There were no interior photos, just a single exterior photo of young Walt and his little sister Ruth on the front porch.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Elias’ secret storage for his box of valuables

The restoration team relied on “forensic demolition” to peel back the layers to determine, as closely as possible, how the house was in 1901, when Walt was born.

After peeling back layers of the floor on the second level, the team found a hidden storage compartment. It turned out that Roy E. Disney, son of Walt’s brother Roy O. Disney, had given an old box used for family documents to the Walt Disney Archives. Rebecca Cline, Director of the Walt Disney Archives, figured out the box would have fit into that compartment.

It also helped that Elias Disney had built two homes nearby for other people, also from plans drawn by Flora Disney. These homes are still standing and had some original Elias Disney features, such as a wooden staircase.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Explaining the history of the house

Rey Colón needed to get on to the next group, but we were allowed to spend some time on the upper level before exiting down a back staircase. The good news for people waiting in line was that the published plan for just 20 people every 45 minutes had been abandoned in favor of greater throughput.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

A few items suggesting young children in the house

I hope all visitors caught the part in the Open House Chicago description about the new owners “working with the City to protect the home and restore it.” Visitors who expected a fully furnished interior instead found a largely empty house looking as one might expect from the era. The reality is that a tremendous amount of effort and money has gone into rolling back time to 1901—to make it look as if nothing has been done.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Concept art on display

I had the privilege of going inside the house in 2016. Back then, much of the interior had been stripped back to wooden framing and wood lath, essentially removing anything that was not the handiwork of Elias Disney. The basement and addition will remain, providing valuable support space for the historic part of the house.

Future plans call for an interactive experience that makes visitors feel it’s 1901. For example, a window that was eliminated when the rear addition was added will reappear in the form of a window encasing a video display that looks onto the backyard and street as it was in 1901.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Looking out the back window at the garage

After exiting the house, the next stop was—in the theme park tradition—a gift shop.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Mugs and pins

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

T-shirts in five sizes

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

O-Zell soda

In case you wonder what O-Zell soda has to do with Elias Disney and Walt Disney, take a look at this Yesterland article about the Demise of the O-Zell Company.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Looking at the house from the street near the garage

The exterior of the house clearly shows the original section and subsequent additions.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Named bricks

Before leaving, I visited my brick on the front walk. It’s from a contribution I made several years ago. The Walt Disney House & Birthplace still has plenty of naming opportunities at fairly modest prices.

Photo by Werner Weiss, 2023

Still a long line when I was leaving

In any case, please visit the official website of the Walt Disney Birthplace Restoration. Read about the restoration. To keep up on everything they’re doing, subscribe to their free newletter. Please consider clicking on the Donate button.

Click here to post comments at MiceChat about this article.

Treasures of WD Archives 115 Years Later Home

© 2023 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks

Updated October 20, 2023