The Chicago home of gay-rights pioneer Henry Gerber moved one rung closer to landmark status last week, as the city's Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted to recommend the honor to the full City Council.
It was at the two-story, Queen Anne row house at 1710 N. Crilly Ct. that Gerber, in 1924, founded the Society for Human Rights ( SHR ) , an organization that is believed to be the first gay-rights group in American history.
It was also there that he published the newsletter Friendship and Freedom, the nation's first documented gay-rights publication.
Gerber ( 1892-1972 ) left Chicago in the mid-1920s after he was arrested for his involvement with the SHR and fired from his job at the post office. According to accounts of his life, he never returned to the city.
The bid for landmark designation for his home will next be reviewed by the City Council's Committee on Historical Landmark Preservation, and, if approved, will go before the full Council at its next meeting.
According to the landmarks commission, the Gerber House would join two other U.S. locations in receiving landmark status for their place in GLBT history: the Stonewall Inn in New York and the San Francisco camera shop of slain gay-rights activist Harvey Milk.
Gerber's former home, located just off North Avenue and Wells Street, is already in a historic district,but the city designation would give it additional protection, said Pete Scales, spokesman for the city's Planning Department.
"It's an additional honor," Scales said "It sets it aside from others in the district."
If approved by the City Council, the home would likely receive a plaque signifying it as a landmark.