The Belvedere Mansion and Gardens

Not worth the money. No history, just a bunch of the original owners junk around the house.

The mansion tour was led by a man who was older and nice enough. No, he won’t win any awards for politeness, but he did a good enough job. My parents are owners of very high end antiques, and I grew up collecting with them. So when my mom and I took the tour, we both said that this house is much better than a lot of museums we have been to, as there are so many insanely high end collectables here — it’s a treat and feast for your eyes. The Tiffany and Lalique collections are very unusual and beautiful. It is very hard to find this many exquisite antiques under one roof.
We would have loved for the tour to last longer, as we could have really dug deeper into all the beautiful pieces that are almost crammed into every nook and crook. The lady upstairs was a little uptight, but the place was so gorgeous that we didn’t let her «we’re walking now, we must move on now» attitude change our perception of this stately house stuffed with artifacts from yesteryear. A must see for anyone who is interested in antiques.

When we were on the trolley tour they stopped outside the Belvedere and mentioned that it had 22 rooms and millions of dollars in antiques. So we thought we should come back and see it. It was only a short distance from our B&B. We bought the discounted tickets at the Dowling House earlier in our stay and stopped here on a Monday afternoon on our way home.
I was very disappointed in the fact that the furniture was not from a specific time period and that we didn’t get to go in all the rooms. In fact we really didn’t get to go into much of anything. We had to look from the hallway, sometimes one at a time. There were some odd pieces like the Vatican chair and curtains from a movie set. I was not at all impressed.
I would say that the fact that it had been a restaurant for a while has ruined it.
FYI they prefer cash here too! And the wicker furniture that is falling apart is still here and has been duck taped. Be careful if you sit on the porch.

Wish I could give this 0 stars… My friend and i stayed at the B&B next door, and seeing the «Open to the Public» sign we decided to go over to the Belvidere. i took her photo on the steps of the belvidere and by the gates. We asked some construction workers there if it was free to go in and they said they didnt know. So we went to the door. Meanwhile another couple came to the door and rang the bell. An older man came out and said $ 12.75 a person. I said oh ok sorry we though it was free. He said come back when you save up enough! (extremely rude especially considering we are low income and not dressed in the nicest clothes or anything.) I said sorry we just wanted to look around at the grounds we saw the open to the public sign. He said then come on in. I set foot in the house and he yelled at me saying if you are not going to pay then DONT come in. Im like what? i was confused. I stepped out and he said this is PRIVATE property … Umm ok but the sign says Open to the Public… I said some choice words to him and we left.
I found their treatment of tourists extremely rude and would not recommend this place to anyone. I made sure to tell other businesses in the area what this person said to us. My friend who is not the strongest in personality said it ruined her whole day.
So much for small town charm… You wont get a dime of my «Saved-​up» money, sir, and before you pick on people remember YOUR livelihood depends on your CUSTOMERS

I came to Galena for two days with friends while I’m in Illinois for a family visit. My friends have all been here in town a number of times, but I decided to take a few of the tours while here. I came for a tour of the Belvedere mansion. It’s interesting that the mansion is still privately owned, and the owners do live here on the premises. They have quite a collection of antiques, and a number of things that were owned by Liberace. There are also pieces that were owned by former presidents and other important people. Some of the rooms in my opinion could use a few less items in them. I love historical things and finding out about the past, so this was very interesting for me. The docent who gave ithe tour downstairs talked so quickly that sometimes it was hard to understand what he was saying. His speech is obviously one that he gives verbatim day after day after day. I would’ve enjoyed a docent who truly loved the property and loved telling people about little interesting facts that they might want to know, more than just a canned speech. I’m glad I came to see it though it was very interesting. Unfortunately it’s been pouring rain so I couldn’t see the gardens outside while I was here.

A historic house with an eclectic collection of furniture and furnishings amassed by the house’s evidently eccentric owner (s). If you are expecting to see the mansion restored to the days of its original owner, a wealthy steamboat operator, you will be grossly disappointed. If you’d like to see a hodgepodge of stuff you would see on an episode of Antiques Roadshow — then this is your kind of place. The Belvedere mansion defies definition. It has a random assortment of furniture and furnishings, including a rare «priceless» Tiffany chandelier, chairs owned by Teddy Roosevelt, Liberace, movie memorabilia and a chair from the Vatican featuring two naked boys on each chair arm (!!!). The collection is varied, cluttered and most rooms are roped off — leaving visitors to crane precariously through doorways to «get a gander». Jaded guides dutifully make sure you don’t touch, don’t take pictures and ramble on about things that don’t matter like «the 20 years this was a 4 star restaurant that I could not afford to eat at».
I generally don’t mind unusual or odd but I get the nagging feeling that the $ 12.75 entrance fee is just enabling the Belvedere’s owner to hit up more antique auctions in order to shoehorn even more stuff into the place.

I have been to countless old historic houses and comparing this house to those this one comes up insanely short. First off what the hell period was this house restored to? They have 1850 furniture, 1880 Victorian furniture, a servant area with a tv in it and some odd presidential furniture and some stuff from movie sets. WHAT THE HELL! Advertise this for what it is, just a museum. It is NOT an accurate historic home. I gave it only one star for the front two paroles which we’re beautiful. Aside from that the presenters/​docents were crap. They gave inaccurate information (this comes from me who worked as a presenter at a historic village for 5 years and someone who has worked as a volunteer at other historic homes for the last 10+ years). First thing, people were NOT that much shorter back then! The chairs are lower to the ground because of what the women were wearing! Big hoops means you need a low chair. Don’t wait to show your ankle ya know. Anyways I tried to point this out to the docent but he flat out ignored me. Also the family supposedly has charcoal gas in the house… in 1850? Wtf? That doesn’t make any sense. They need to give their information correctly. None of it makes sense because the house isn’t accurately set up. The dining room should be a kitchen, the library should be a dining room and why are you discussing how this house was once a restaurant? Why does that even matter. Ugh this was a waste of $ 12 each. Should have only paid $ 5 each. Plus get rid of the crappy wicker furniture that’s FALLING APART. God this house disappointed me.

My boyfriend and I absolutely love old buildings, especially grand old buildings like The Belvedere is rumored to be. We will probably never know for ourselves how grand it actually is. The admission was absurd, in our opinions. $ 12 per person to look at a building, and not even be able to stop and enjoy the details and features you would like to see the most? The guided tour is a cute idea, but not for that price. I understand that the ticket fee probably goes to maintaining the place and keeping it going, but even still. The sign outside reading «Open to the Public» was rather misleading in that regard. A movie theater does not say «Open to the Public», as you have to pay to get in; neither should The Belvedere Mansion. It was lovely to see the front and the gardens on the side, but that is about as far as we will likely go into the mansion. They had discount tickets if you wanted to go to both The Dowling House (which we also would have liked to see) and The Belvedere, but we were not about to spend that much money to walk around an old house. We ended up walking into the entryway, seeing the prices, then turning tail and heading back downtown. Maybe when we have more money to spend and nothing more worthwhile to spend it on, Belvedere.