THE HOUSES OF CROSSES
Chicago, IL
Brought to you by Weird Chicago
Mitch Szewczjyk began decorating his home in 1979, and continued until he became ill in the 1990's. He died a few years later, and the house spent some time sitting empty, but, while it did so, it became known as a Chicago landmark, and one of the finest examples of folk art in the United States. In late 2006, a for sale sign appeared, and the tree and stairs outside of the house came down on January 9-10 of 2007. On that day, Ken Melvoin-Berg and I were fortunate enough to conduct an interview with Don, Mitch's nephew, who told us all about Mitch and the house. Hear our interview with him on the third episode of the Weird Chicago podcast, available for free on
Mitch's father bought the house in order to get his bride-to-be to move to America from Poland to marry him - the house stands only blocks from the area known at the time as "Polish Broadway." Mitch, a strong Catholic and student of the Crusades, began decorating the inside of the house. Shortly after his father died, Mitch began decorating the outside with his crosses and plaques. Initially, he began with one of the red crosses near the top, which he put up in order to keep gang members, who at the time were a problem in the neighborhood, to keep them away. And it worked. His nephew estimates that the huge number of decorations currently visibile represents only 1/10th of the ones that were once there - the house once featured a large shrine to the Pope, who was once driven past the house to see it.
As of this writing, it's not known what will happen to house when it is sold, though it seems likely that it will be torn down. We hope this page can be an enduring tribute to Mitch and his house. We wish to thank Don tremendously for being so friendly when we spoke to him!
