Chicago Landmarks
 

Ida B. Wells - Barnett House

Exterior, 1996, photo by Bob Thall     Address: 3624 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.
Year Built: 1889
Architect: Joseph A. Thain
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: October 2, 1995

Ida B. Wells From 1919 to 1930, this was the home of journalist-civil rights activist Ida Bell Wells and her lawyer-journalist husband, Ferdinand Lee Barnett. Wells' outspoken criticism--in her weekly newspaper columns--of lynching and mob violence stirred the nation, and brought international attention to racially motivated brutality. This residence, the only direct physical link to Wells' life in Chicago, incorporates elements of the Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles of architecture.