Look down practically any block in the city and you’ll see at least one example of the typical Chicago three-flat. A gray stone facade, modestly embellished, fronts a solid red-brick structure with no yard to speak of, though the owners may have squeezed in some landscaping. Outside the dignified old house at 4512 S. King Drive, a chain-link fence encloses a lot so small that the house shares an outer wall with the building to the south. Like its neighbors, the building looks well-worn but reasonably well maintained. There’s no hint of the five young men who once lived here–Chico, Harpo, Groucho, Gummo, and Zeppo.
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According to Samuelson, rumors of a different Marx Brothers’ house are persistent but wrong. “There’s a house farther south, at 4726 King Drive, that people often mistake for this one,” he says. “The family at that address spelled its name M-A-R-K-S.” The historical marker in front of 4512 would seem to settle the matter. But as Groucho once put it, “Home is where you hang your head.”
