Clarke House: Chicago's Oldest House, Moved Twice

The Henry B. Clarke House, built in 1836, is generally regarded as the oldest house in Chicago. It predates the Great Chicago Fire, the World's Fair, and the construction of virtually every other structure in the city. Built in Greek Revival style for hardware merchant Henry B. Clarke and his family, it originally stood at what is now 16th Street and Michigan Avenue. It has been moved twice to save it from demolition — first to Wabash Avenue in the 1870s when the neighborhood changed, then to its current location in the Prairie Avenue Historic District in 1977, hoisted over the elevated 'L' tracks, where it sat stranded for about two weeks when the hydraulic jacks froze. Renamed the Clarke-Ford House in 2022 to also honor Bishop Louis Henry Ford, it now operates as a museum at 1827 S Indiana Avenue, surrounded by other surviving Prairie Avenue mansions that hint at the wealthy enclave that once dominated this stretch of Chicago's South Side. Guided tours run regularly and include the reconstructed period interiors.