“A Bronzeville greystone that was the home of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington for five years of his childhood is for sale for the first time in decades, in need of extensive interior rehab.

“The asking price is $715,000 for the seven-bedroom house built in about 1894 on what was then called Grand Boulevard but was later renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The house has a castle-like facade with a tower, finials and crenellations, and inside are vintage wood details including fireplace mantels, pocket doors, wainscoting and built-in china cabinets.

“Bringing the house up to date would cost around $300,000…making a buyer’s total investment around $1 million. ‘And that’s a price we’ve been seeing on King Drive.’

“‘It’s a piece of Chicago history,’ Edwards said. Harold Washington, who was elected to seats in both houses of the Illinois Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives over the course of 18 years, was elected mayor of Chicago in 1983.

“‘He was so influential, politically and socially,’ Edwards said. ‘I would love to see somebody bring this house that he lived in back to life.’

“‘Washington was 6 years old in 1928 when he, his brother Edward and their father, Roy L. Washington, moved into the greystone, which was owned by Roy’s widowed friend Virginia Davis, according to ‘Harold, the People’s Mayor.’ The biography of Chicago’s first Black mayor was published by Dempsey Travis in 1989, six years after Washington died in office.

“Travis wrote, ‘young Harold spent evenings looking out of his second-floor bedroom window’ watching white patrons in fancy dress get out of their limousines to enter the Grand Terrace ballroom on the other side of the broad boulevard.

“Preserved in part by disuse are the marble floor in the foyer, the ornate wood trim of the staircase (although caution tape prevents use of the stairs), glass-doored bookcases that flank the living room’s pillared fireplace, and leaded glass doors in the dining room’s china cabinet. Also in the dining room, a mural of trees covers the walls above the wainscoting, and original gold tile in the fireplace mantel is all intact.

“There’s so much potential in there,” Edwards said. (Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 10/7/24)

Former Mayor Harold Washington’s Childhood Home should be considered for Chicago Landmark Designation.

Read the full story at Crain’s Chicago Business

• Bronzeville home where Mayor Harold Washington lived as a child goes up for sale, Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, 10/7/24
• 3936 S King Dr, Chicago, IL 60653 Listing