Renovation of South Side Community Art Center gets boost from National Trust for Historic Preservation work program

The 19th-century building in Bronzeville got the help thanks to its status as a “National Treasure.”

By Annie Geng

Manny Jimenez uses pressure washer to clean steps of the South Side Community Art Center — Manny Jimenez uses a pressure washer to clean the steps of the South Side Community Art Center on June 21, 2019. | Pat Nabong/For The Sun-Times

When Jonathan Wordlaw, 21, joined the Hands-On Preservation Experience, he had little idea what he was getting into.

Wordlaw was one of five people in that program assigned last week to help with ongoing renovations at the South Side Community Art Center.

Although he knew the Preservation Experience focused on historic buildings, Wordlaw didn’t know he’d end up at a building as old as the art center’s 19th-century home in Bronzeville.

“When I came here, they were like, ‘you’re going to be working on a 127-year-old building,’” said Wordlaw.

Also working at the art center last week through the program were Avante Lane, 18, Renardo Harris, 19, Tyrese Jackson, 17, and DeShawn Shelton, 18.

The Preservation Experience is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Wordlaw and the others, who are training at the Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps Center, were referred to the Preservation Experience by their mentor, Jackie Townsend.

Older window at South Side Community Art Center — Older windows at the South Side Community Art Center are one target of ongoing renovations. Workers assigned through a National Trust program replaced 33 of the Bronzeville building’s 78 windows last week. | Pat Nabong/For The Sun-Times

Over the course of the week, they helped restore 33 of the building’s 78 windows, and clean the front of the three-story stone-and-brick structure.

The goal of the National Trust program was to provide participants with hands-on technical experience. The five also attended training seminars by preservation specialists.

The art center was chosen for restoration efforts by the National Trust due to the building’s status as a “National Treasure,” which the Trust conferred in 2017.

Though the building has had internal repairs since its construction in 1892, this was the first exterior restoration, said Maséque Myers, executive director of the art center, founded in 1941 to support a burgeoning African American art scene in the city.

In a time rife with racism and segregation, the South Side Community Art Center provided a home for budding artists of the South Side — including Gwendolyn Brooks and Nat King Cole.

What Myers envisions is a future for the center just as rich as its past — and this restoration is only the beginning.

The center has endured “because we’re more than a gallery,” Myers said.

“When we find ourselves in disappointments, or in situations where we think we can change it for the better, you come to … our center and have discussions and meetings about how to improve the quality of life in not only for African Americans, but for all citizens.”