Henry B. and Caroline Clarke/Bishop Louis Henry and Margaret Ford House (Clarke-Ford House)

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The Henry B. and Caroline Clarke/Bishop Louis Henry and Margaret Ford House (Clarke-Ford House) is the oldest house in Chicago, dating from 1836, and is the city’s earliest example of Greek Revival Architecture. The house is located at 1827 S. Indiana Avenue in the Chicago Women’s Park in the Prairie Avenue Historic District. The house and surrounding four-acre park are owned, maintained and programmed by the City of Chicago. The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Illinois owns the furnishings and decor collection, cares for this collection of artifacts, and supports educational programs on behalf of the collection.

The current Clarke-Ford House Interpretation focuses on the social history of pre-Civil War Chicago (1836-1860) during a period of economic expansion and industrialization. Visitors learn about architecture, furniture, decorative arts and the links and similarities with the lives of Chicago’s citizens today. The story is told of the Clarke family’s settling in Chicago, the social and holiday customs of the era, Henry Clarke’s professional career, the children’s lives and how wife Caroline managed her family and property after Henry’s death.

The house was purchased in 1941 by Chicago community leader, Bishop Henry Louis Ford to be used as a church rectory for the denomination he established, the St. Paul Church of God in Christ.  Bishop Ford, his family, and congregation preserved the property, while using it to further the church mission work and advocating for the building’s place in Chicago’s cultural landscape, ultimately gifting the house to the city in 1981.  The NSCDA-IL became involved in 1977 due to our experience and leadership across the US in historic preservation.

Tours of the house are currently paused due to a pending reinterpretation of programming.

For additional information visit clarkehousemuseum.org or the NSCDA website Great American Treasures https://nscda.org/great-american-treasures/ .

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