Preservation Chicago was successful at preventing the emergency demolition of the Phyllis Wheatley Home at 5128 S. Michigan Avenue in 2021. We created significant interest and awareness in the building’s history as a 2021 Chicago 7 Most Endangered.
Over the past four years, we continued to advocate to save the Phyllis Wheatley Home from demolition. We worked closely with the owners to encourage them to take steps to stabilize the building. Given the large size of the building and the significant structural and roofing issues, we introduced them to multiple potential buyers who could have purchased and renovated the building. Unfortunately, the stabilization didn’t happen and none of the purchase offers were accepted before the demolition crews arrived.
Read more of the backstory at the Chicago Sun-Times
- Owner, supporters fight to save historic Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home from city demolition block; When Ariajo “Joanne” Tate and her husband bought their Bronzeville gray limestone in 1989, they had no idea it was the historic Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home, among the rare settlement houses established by Black women suffragettes in the early 1900s, to aid Black women and girls arriving in Chicago during the Great Migration, Maudlyne Ihejirika, Chicago Sun-Times, 2/23/21
- Demolition Court Looms For Chicago’s Last Phyllis Wheatley Home, Which Sheltered Black Women During The Great Migration; Researchers and residents are calling for the preservation of “a tangible place that holds the heritage and spirit of Black women” as the building’s owner — and its longtime resident — seeks funding to restore her crumbling home, Maxwell Evans, Block Club Chicago, 1/29/21
- Chicago’s last Phyllis Wheatley House in Washington Park in danger of demolition, Karen Jordan, ABC 7 Chicago, 2/3/21
- Petition to Save Bronzeville’s Last Phillis Wheatley Home!
- Phyllis Wheatley Club and Home, a Chicago 7 Most Endangered 2021