Pope’s Childhood Home Blesses Chicago House Flipper

When home flipper Paweł Radzik bought a beat-up brick house in the village of Dolton last year, one of the two dozen homes he’s purchased in the area, he didn’t expect it to become the site of a low-key national pilgrimage.

But after last week’s election of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Robert Francis Prevost, the modest home at 212 East 141st Place, has turned into a full-blown tourist draw. The house where the pontiff grew up has become a point of pride for locals and a magnet for curious Catholics from as far away as California, according to Block Club. Weekend visitors have flocked to the quiet suburban street to pose for photos, peek through windows and snap selfies with the pope’s former front steps.

Radzik, the owner of the three-bedroom, 750-square-foot house, listed it for $219,000 ($292 per square foot), the Chicago Tribune reported. But he pulled it off the market after the Vatican made its choice.

Prevost lived in the house until heading to seminary in 1969; his parents, Louis and Mildred, remained there for decades. His father sold the home in 1996. Fast forward to 2024: Radzik bought the home for $66,000, about $88 per square foot, unaware of its future spiritual cachet.

What to do with it now? That’s the question the owner and his real estate agent friend Steve Budzik with ICandy Realty are trying to answer.

Ideas on the table include restoring the home to its mid-century look or even converting it into a museum or viewing home. They say they hope to speak with John Prevost, the pope’s brother, before deciding next steps.

Radzik, a practicing Catholic who immigrated from Poland, said the home “was in pretty bad shape” when he bought it and estimates he’s put $80,000 into renovations. But if it’s going to be a historic site, some of that work may be undone to reflect the home as it was in the 1950s and ’60s.

“I got a little lucky, eh?” Radzik said. “I want to take it slow.”

Meanwhile, Dolton’s newly elected mayor, Jason House, has floated the idea of naming the street after Pope Leo XIV and said he’d support turning the house into a formal landmark.

Traffic has picked up so much around the house that the next-door neighbors, including a local minister, have lost sleep.