Ex-U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush selling Bronzeville home

Former U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush — the former Black Panther, ex-Chicago alderperson and minister — is selling his home in Bronzeville.

The five-bedroom home at 3534 S. Calumet Ave. was listed on Saturday for $795,000. Rush and his late wife, Carolyn A. Rush, who died in 2017, owned the house since at least 1986, according to county property records.

The three-story brick row home, built in 1888, features 3½ bathrooms, according to its listing. The Rushes acquired an adjacent vacant lot from the city in 1994, according to property records, and built an extension of their home and a two-car garage with a rooftop terrace.

Real estate agent Esther Williams did not immediately comment. Rush did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Sun-Times reported in 2013 that Rush repeatedly failed to pay his property taxes on time. Rush had paid at least $21,000 in penalties, interest and delinquent property taxes. Some of the payments were over five years past due, the Sun-Times reported then.

He told the Sun-Times then, "Yes, I might owe tax. I might owe a lot of things," pointing out that he also paid for an apartment in Washington, D.C.

In 2010, the Sun-Times reported that a bank sued Rush over late payment of two mortgages. One of them was for a condominium he owned in Buchanan, Michigan.

At the time, Rush was paid $174,000 a year to serve in Congress. His campaign fund regularly paid his wife consultant fees amounting to $83,049 in 2012, the Sun-Times reported then.

Rush, 78, retired from Congress in 2022.

Rush said he would focus on being pastor of the Beloved Community Christian Church of God in Christ.