Elam House facts for kids

The Elam House, originally called the Simon Marks House, is a beautiful building in Chicago, Illinois. It looks like a French castle, a style known as "chateauesque." This special house was designed by Henry L. Newhouse and built in 1903. Later, a very important woman named Melissia Ann Elam bought it. The Elam House was named a Chicago Landmark on March 21, 1979, which means it's a very important historical building.

Who Was Melissia Ann Elam?

Melissia Ann Elam was born in Missouri in 1853. Her parents had been enslaved. After slavery ended, she moved to Chicago. She worked as a maid before she married Rubin Elam, who was a realtor.

Mrs. Elam saw that many single African American girls and women were moving to Chicago. They needed safe places to live and good advice. So, in 1923, Mrs. Elam bought a home at 4555 South Champlain. She opened it as the Melissia Anne Elam Home for Working Women and Girls.

Soon, more people needed help than her first home could hold. So, in 1926, Mrs. Elam and Isadore Anna Drell bought a bigger house at 4726 South Park Way. This is the house we now call Elam House.

How Did Elam House Help the Community?

From the 1930s to the 1950s, the Elam Home often housed more than 30 women and girls at a time. It was a safe and supportive place for them. The home also became a busy center for many important events for Black people in Chicago. These events included social gatherings, cultural activities, and even a state meeting for African American women.

Mrs. Elam passed away in 1941. Her niece, Loretta Peyton, then became the trustee of the home. Mrs. Elam wanted her home to keep helping the community. She left Elam House to an organization called Centers for New Horizons, Inc. This group is a social service agency that helps communities on the Southside of Chicago. Mrs. Elam made sure in her will that the home would continue to serve the community. She trusted a group of African American women to keep it running as a boarding home.

Over time, fewer women needed to live in boarding homes. So, the number of people living at Elam House went down. However, some women continued to live there even into the 1970s.

Saving Elam House from Being Torn Down

In 1974, a group called the Friends of Elam House Foundation was started by Margaret Burroughs. The house was in danger of being torn down because it had many building problems. The Friends of Elam House Foundation worked hard to raise money. They wanted to fix the problems and get the house recognized as a landmark.

The DuSable Museum of African American History became the trustee for the foundation. In 1979, their efforts paid off! The Elam House was officially declared a Chicago Historical Landmark.

What Does Elam House Look Like?

Elam House is a very large mansion, about 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m²). It was built in 1903. The architect, Henry L. Newhouse, designed it in the Chateauesque style. This style makes buildings look like French castles. Chateauesque buildings often have stone walls, unusual shapes, windows set deep into the walls, steep roofs, and tall, round towers called turrets.

The Elam House originally had 20 rooms. It featured beautiful German wood details and lovely stained glass and leaded glass windows.

Restoring Elam House

Sadly, the home had a serious fire in 1992. Much of the inside was damaged or lost. But there are many great old pictures of the house. These pictures can help people restore it to its original beauty.

In 1994, Centers for New Horizons worked with the US Army Reserve's 863rd Engineer Battalion. They helped make the building stable again by adding a new roof and doing basic carpentry and wiring inside. Since then, Centers for New Horizons has spent over $1 million to renovate the home. This money came from insurance and their own funds.