[Featured Member] Becca Brown, Young Preservationist
September 04, 2012
This blog is part of an occasional series featuring Museum members. To share your story, contact membership@driehausmuseum.org.
Becca Brown—day-camp comedy sketch actress, soon-to-be Landmarks Illinois patron, and all-around pretty awesome 11-year-old—took a stroll around the block with me last month to chat about being one of the Driehaus Museum’s youngest members.
As told to Lindsey Howald PattonMy family has a motorboat that we take on Lake Michigan, and when I’m on the water I like to look at all the buildings. My favorite has to be the Trump building. I do not actually know why—I just like how it looks like stairs, and the color reminds me of water. So I’m raising the money for Landmarks Illinois for my bat mitzvah—that’s on August 30th, in two years—to save the buildings, because if they’re not there, I’ll be sad, because the skyline will be so boring. I’m not excited for the bat mitzvah otherwise—I have to read Torah, and I’m awful at Hebrew. So I’m very scared I’m not going to remember everything.
My mom works at the Driehaus Museum. She used to be a teacher before I was born, and then she got this job as a guide at the museum. I wanted to make sure that her job was good, so I became a member. She signed me up and then I went, and now I’m very interested in it. I took one of my mom’s tours—she did a good job! I’m very proud of her.
When I first walked into the museum, I was like—WOW. I had not seen this stuff, because I live in the modern day in my house in Lakeview. It’s very different. My grandpa is back in that time, but his house is all country—I love my grandpa, but I like this house better.
My mom is also a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright. She’s taken me on lots of tours. There’s a lot to remember in those, but once there was this one guy. I was the youngest one there, and he asked me, ‘Where would you think Frank Lloyd Wright would want us to go next?’ And I pointed over to where there was a big opening—and I was right. The bigger openings represent the sun and that’s where you go through first.
I’ve been helping my mom memorize the tour. And then she’s like, ‘Oh, maybe you could be a tour guide!’ But I actually have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. Like, last year I wanted to be a football player, and the year before I wanted to be a boxer. But now I don’t want to be that. I like playing with little kids, but my mom’s friend has this little baby that is scared of me because I think he thinks I’m a giant. I’m 5’4”. Everyone says I’m tall for my age. I’m older than my two brothers and sister, but I’m not the best big sister, you see. These kids are very, very hard. They haven’t learned yet that talking it out is the right way to solve your problems, not hitting.