Touring with Terrell: Historic Bronzeville mansion features basketball court, nightclub

CHICAGO (WLS) — Bronzeville is home to many of beautiful homes, but, the one we’re about to show you is unique.

With 19th century woodwork, a swimming pool and nightclub, there’s really no need to ever leave the house!

Many Bronzeville families are caretakers of these historical homes, some of the most historic architecture in the city. And one family is making its mark.

This historical home in Bronzeville boasts chandeliers, stained glass and an exquisite floors .

“House was made in 1885 by Charles Kern, who was a German immigrant who came to Chicago,” homeowner Jemal King said. “His wife ended up selling this house to one of the first Black families that came here through the great migration…now the King family has it.”

King is a former Chicago police officer and now real estate investor. He and his wife Camille took years renovating and expanding this brownstone. But, they wanted to keep the home’s integrity.

“You don’t find a lot of homes in this area that still have the original woodwork intact,” Jemal King said. “So even in the places where we added extra woodwork we wanted to make sure that it looked like the original.”

It took them years to complete the work. Repairing and matching the woodwork were not easy tasks.

“So we would have to take a picture or cut off an older piece and then ship that piece to a company and then the company would make a mold of that piece and then they would create another piece to match that same exact piece,” Jemal King said.

The King’s honored the home’s history by keeping original pieces and altering others. For example, the front staircase is made of mahogany wood, an expensive material, while the rear staircase is made of pine wood, one of the cheapest.

“That’s because the servants were only allowed to use the rear staircase…And so when we purchased the home I made a point to put oak wood on top of the pinewood…because our ancestors were possibly one of the ones that were the servants of this home,” King said. “And to now be part of it the owner of it and now have our names, you know have our name on the deed to this house and to be able to add our own imprint on this house is amazing.”

While honoring their ancestors, they added their own flair, as well.

“We just wanted a house where it’s like okay, if you want to watch movies, we wanna go to the movie theater., if you want to listen to music, we’re gonna go to the club. You know if we want to work out we have a gym for that,” King said.

You heard him. This now 20,000 plus square foot home includes a full gym, basketball court, tennis court, swimming pool, night club and a rooftop terrace.

“And my favorite room is rain,” homeowner Camille King said. “When we first renovated, we said there would be no children allowed. So it was like this is my getaway. It also looks out to the deck.”

The King’s raise their children and host in this home and say they are aiming for it to be passed down for generations.

This is a people’s house,” Camille King said. “That’s how we call it. Some people call it the palace .I call it the people’s house cause everybody’s always here.”

King’s house is part of the walking tour of the Bronzeville historical neighborhood.