Gwendolyn Brooks House

“She was also a co-founder of the South Side Community Art Center's (a designated Chicago Landmark located at 3831 S. Michigan Avenue) creative writing forum. In 1976 Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African-American appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 1985 she was appointed poetry consultant to the Library of Congress.”

“Later, Brooks was selected by the National Endowment for the Humanities as the 1994 Jefferson Lecturer, the highest award in the humanities given by the federal government. During her long career, Brooks taught at Columbia College (Chicago), Northeastern Illinois University, Elmhurst College, Columbia University, Clay College of New York, and the University of Wisconsin.”

“Assuming that fiction would be more marketable than poetry, Brooks began work on a manuscript that would become the acclaimed novel Maud Martha (1953). This semi-autobiographical work depicted the life of an African-American woman living in the World War II era and explored the racism, classism, and sexism that she encounters by both whites and blacks.”

“Born June 17, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was the first child of David and Keziah Brooks. Her family moved to Chicago shortly before her birth, her mother returned to Kansas to deliver Gwendolyn in her grandparents' home.”

“Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African-American, in any genre, to win the award. Following the birth of her second child, Nora, in 1951, Gwendolyn Brooks felt more determined to settle into a permanent home.”

“During this dynamic era, Chicago was a national center of urban African-American art, blues and jazz, dance, theater, poetry and fiction. The Chicago Black Renaissance literary movement was born of diverse creative and intellectual forces in Chicago's African-American community, and yielded such acclaimed 20th-century writers as Richard Wright (1908-1960) and Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000).”

“Considered to be one the United States' most significant poets, Brooks' poetry bridged the Chicago Black Renaissance literary movement and its aftermath, and was a leading force in the establishment of a multiracial, multiethnic American artistic heritage.”

“Building ornament combines both Classical and Art Deco motifs. The rusticated stone walls of the building have Classical-style details such as keystones, arches and copings. Low-relief abstracted-floral panels above the main entrance, carved-stone municipal seals on the one-story wings, and copings on the central tower impart an Art Deco-style character to the building.”

“Inside the entrance portal is the library's central circulation space, a spatially-dramatic two-story pavilion. This octagonal “lantern” space has Classical Revival-style wood paneling covering lower walls, while above, are plaster walls and rectangular clerestory windows.”

“The original wood siding of the Gwendolyn Brooks House has been covered over with artificial siding (a reversible change), and the gable window has been altered. Additionally, the front entry door has been replaced.”