06/13/2026
It wasn’t black stone — it was more than a century of Chicago soot.
The Nickerson Mansion, now the Richard H. Driehaus Museum, appeared almost black after decades of coal smoke, dirt, and urban pollution built up on its stone façade.
During its early 2000s restoration, specialists used laser cleaning to remove the soot layer. The process took 18 months and is noted as the first time this laser-cleaning method was used to restore the entire exterior of a building in the United States.
Under all that darkness was the mansion’s original warm, light-colored stone.
Built in 1883 for banker Samuel Mayo Nickerson, the house later became known as Chicago’s “Marble Palace” for its lavish stone-filled interior.
