Day 10: Hemingway & Hadley’s Chicago apartment

AJK: What are you up to?

I’m on holy ground, inside the common hall of residents of 1239 N. Dearborn St. The first home of newlyweds Ernest and Hadley Hemingway, this private corridor contains books, articles, photographs, dioramas, and artifacts from his profound life. Though written almost three years ago, The Hemingway Society’s description of the space mirrors my experience perfectly.

I grew up and played in the areas of Northern Michigan that captured his heart, and found myself in McLain’s interpretation of Hadley as I devoured the pages of her historic novel, The Paris Wife. Later I would find myself, unknowingly, on the stoop of his Paris haunt, La Palette, during my late 20s.

Woven.

So many photographs and articles stopped my breath, but the peaceful portrait of E.H. with the morning paper, so close to the year he’d end his life, makes me ache for the same scene.

The caption reads: “In a spare bedroom of his Havana house in 1959, with his old and faithful ‘Black Dog’ on guard, Papa Hemingway enjoys The New York Times.”

For fun, Block Club Chicago covered the home in an article when it hit the market last year.