Chicago Landmarks
 

Carl Sandburg House

Carl Sandburg House, photo by Terry Tatum, CCL, 2005     Address: 4646 N. Hermitage Ave.
Year Built: circa 1886
Architect: Unknown
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: October 4, 2006

Detail of gables, photo by Terry Tatum, CCL, 2005 This wood-frame house is the only Chicago home for the noted Chicago poet and journalist Carl Sandburg, who occupied a second-floor apartment in the building from 1912 to 1915. It was here that he lived when writing his ground-breaking poem "Chicago," which has come to symbolize Chicago's working-class heritage with its "City of Big Shoulders" verse. As such, the building is a tangible physical connection to one of America's best-known writers and poets, and a leader in the "Chicago Literary Renaissance" of the early 20th century.