“A Bronzeville mansion with a storied history is for sale for the first time in decades, and local preservationists want to ensure it remains intact.

“Owners of the Victorian mansion at 3736 S. Michigan Ave. put the 11,108-square-foot property on the market last week for $1.2 million, according to Crain’s Chicago. The eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom home, built in the late 19th century, is on a 10,000-square-foot lot and boasts a three-car garage.

“But this isn’t your ordinary brownstone: It was once a hospital run by Black physician Ulysses Grant Dailey, who converted the home and the one next to it into a hospital and sanitarium in 1926. The Louisiana-born doctor operated the facility until 1932, when the Great Depression forced him to close, according to a 2021 Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine article.

“Years before Dailey bought the home, it belonged to wealthy grain dealer Adolph J. Lichtstern — a German-born Jewish businessman who served as a Chicago Board of Trade operator — whose family lived at the residence until the late 1910s before decamping to their summer residence in north suburban Glencoe, according to Baird & Warner, the real estate agency that listed the property.

“It’s one of the last houses of Millionaires’ Row, several blocks away from the Swift and Hoxie Mansions, which still stand. Ward Miller, executive director of Preservation Chicago, said his group would be behind landmark designation efforts, noting its Renaissance Revival-style has an Orange rating by the Chicago Historic Resources Survey.

“According to the survey, about 9,600 properties have that distinction, its second-highest. Orange properties are considered to ‘possess some architectural feature or historical association that made them potentially significant in the context of the surrounding community.’

“You’ve got an incredible African American history here that’s really amazing and a building of a magnitude that survived,’ Miller said. ‘That’s really kind of incredible. So I think this has got a great future.’

“Miller found that the mansion was constructed by architecture firm Dixon and Brookes in 1892, who built a number of homes on the South Side, including in Washington Park and Hyde Park. The firm was tapped by Lichtstern for the project, which called for an additional home to be built for relatives on the same lot. The attached guest house still stands, and it has two bedrooms and two baths with a separate address.

“The main house is three stories, with a grand stairway that leads to a ballroom on the top floor, which offers views of the city. It also has eleven fireplaces and ornate woodwork throughout. According to the listing, there are two separate living quarters on the ground floor: one three-bedroom, one-bath and the other a two-bedroom, one-bath which is currently rented.

“With so many homes in the area lost to the wrecking ball, Miller sees this as an opportunity to not only preserve the structure itself, but the stories of those who once called it home. The mansion falls squarely in the Bronzeville National Heritage Area, a half-mile away from the historic Roberts Temple Church — the site of Emmett Till’s funeral — and a four-minute drive from the Ida B. Wells national monument.

“‘I think these histories really need to be captured, and if it were landmarked, we would know them better,’ Miller said. ‘It would become part of Chicago’s amazing historical-built environment. This building is really important to the history of the Black metropolis.’ (Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 3/18/26)

Read the full story at Block Club Chicago

• This Historic Bronzeville Mansion, Once A Black-Owned Hospital, Is For Sale; The $1.2 million home, built in 1890, boasts eight bedrooms and a grand ballroom on the top floor. It’s one of the last houses of Millionaires’ Row, several blocks away from the Swift and Hoxie Mansions, Jamie Nesbitt Golden, Block Club Chicago, 3/18/26
• Bronzeville mansion layered with history on the market for first time in three decades, Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 3/10/26
• Adolph J. Lichtstern Mansion, 3736 S. Michigan Avenue Redfin Listing