Ida B. Wells-Barnett House
- Year
- 1889
- Style
- Renaissance Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
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Built around 1889 as a Romanesque Revival rowhouse on what's now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Bronzeville, this three-story ashlar granite building became the home of journalist and civil rights leader Ida B. Wells and her husband Ferdinand Lee Barnett from 1919 to 1930. It was designated a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 30, 1974, and became a Chicago Landmark on October 2, 1995.
the building
Turreted corner bay. The facade splits into a large right bay, a smaller left bay, and an angled left corner from which a turreted bay projects across the second and third floors. The main entrance sits deeply recessed behind a segmented arch in the right bay, while the other openings are round-arched, and the right bay ends in a gabled wall dormer with a pair of round-arch windows.
the style
The house is built out of ashlar granite in the Romanesque Revival style that was fashionable around 1890, favoring heavy stone, round arches, and turreted massing over the flatter classical facades common on the block.
More on Renaissance Revivalsignificance
Wells lived here with Barnett for over a decade while she continued her anti-lynching journalism and organizing. The house earned National Historic Landmark status and a National Register listing in 1974, then Chicago Landmark designation in 1995, recognizing it for her residency rather than its architecture alone.
nearby
- Martin Roche–John Tait House
- Pilgrim Baptist Church
- John W. Griffiths Mansion
- Robert W. Roloson Houses
- South Side Community Art Center
- Wabash Avenue YMCA