{"nrhp_refnum":"75000646","name":"De Priest, Oscar Stanton, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4536-4538 S. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.81188891700003,"lon":-87.61715362999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1975-05-15","areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Black","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-flat, three-story masonry apartment building at 4536-4538 South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Chicago, built about 1920, where Congressman Oscar Stanton DePriest lived in a second-floor apartment.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant because of DePriest, who in 1928 became the first black person elected to Congress from a northern state. He was also the first black member of Chicago's city government, elected alderman in 1915. He lived in the building from 1929 until his death in 1951.","narrative":"This three-story, eight-unit apartment building on Chicago's South Side, built around 1920, faces east onto Martin Luther King Drive. It is faced with mottled dark brown brick trimmed in Indiana limestone, with two large square bays rising from grade to the roofline and a recessed central entry serving the 4536 and 4538 addresses. The architecture is described as ordinary for its era. Its importance lies in its longtime resident. Oscar Stanton DePriest bought the building in 1929 and lived in a second-floor apartment in the south section until his death in 1951. DePriest was a contractor and real estate businessman who became Chicago's first black alderman in 1915 and, in 1928, the first black person elected to Congress from a northern state. He served until 1935, spoke nationally for black Americans, and challenged discrimination in the House restaurant. The surrounding neighborhood remains an established black community.","period_of_significance":"1929-1951","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Described as architecturally nondescript, a style often used for apartment buildings in the late teens and early 1920s.","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered, on its original site, and in use as an occupied private residence and apartment building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.12203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/56/8915/28891556/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000646_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000646/b950b1aed6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000646/b950b1aed6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Zol87 from Chicago, Illinois, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oscar_Stanton_DePriest_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Zol87 from Chicago, Illinois, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oscar_Stanton_DePriest_House.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000040","name":"Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-park-boulevard-system-historic-district-12000040/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891556","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Stanton_De_Priest_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7106258"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/de-priest-oscar-stanton-house-75000646/"}