A new photography book is giving readers a rare look inside one of the most important buildings in Black media history.
820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon, published Tuesday by MW Editions, features photographs by Chicago photographer Barbara Karant documenting the former Johnson Publishing Company headquarters at 820 S. Michigan Ave., the longtime home of Ebony and Jet magazines. Pasted markdown
The 240-page book preserves the building’s striking interiors, many of which no longer exist in their original form, while also examining the larger cultural legacy of Johnson Publishing Company and its influence on Black media, design, photography and American culture.
Designed by architect John W. Moutoussamy and completed in 1972, the building was the first, and remains the only, high-rise in downtown Chicago designed by an African American architect. Built for publisher John H. Johnson, the headquarters became a physical expression of the ambition and influence of one of the nation’s most important Black-owned media companies.
While the building’s exterior reflected Moutoussamy’s restrained modernist style, the inside told a very different story.
Designers Arthur Elrod and William Raiser filled the headquarters with bold colors, geometric patterns, mirrored surfaces, rich textures and dramatic materials across 11 floors. The result was a workplace that looked unlike the traditional corporate offices of its era. Pasted markdown
Karant began photographing the building after Johnson Publishing sold the property in 2010 and relocated in 2012. Between 2013 and 2015, and again in 2018, she documented the largely vacant interiors after employees and much of the furniture had been removed.
What remained were the colors, patterns and architectural details that had helped define the company’s visual identity.
Her photographs capture spaces ranging from the cafeteria’s orange, purple and gold designs to Eunice Johnson’s cream-and-honey office, mirrored dressing rooms and the executive floor’s expansive views of Lake Michigan and Grant Park. Pasted markdown
Among the building’s most memorable spaces was the famed Ebony Test Kitchen.
Known for its vivid colors, psychedelic patterns and distinctive cabinetry, the kitchen became a visual reflection of Ebony magazine’s influence on food, lifestyle and Black culture. Karant photographed the kitchen as part of the larger architectural story of the headquarters. Pasted markdown
“The building was almost like a portrait of Johnson Publishing Company itself,” Karant said. “Even after the people and furnishings were gone, the colors, patterns, textures and spaces still conveyed the creativity, confidence and extraordinary cultural presence of the company.”
The photographs have taken on even greater significance because much of what Karant documented has since disappeared.
Following the building’s conversion, substantial portions of the original interiors were removed. The Ebony Test Kitchen was dismantled and preserved separately, making Karant’s images one of the most extensive visual records of how the headquarters looked during Johnson Publishing Company’s decades on Michigan Avenue. Pasted markdown
The book also includes photographs of sculptor Richard Hunt’s Expansive Construction, a work commissioned for the building’s lobby, as well as images of the company’s in-house photography studio and archival views of the original interiors.
But 820 Ebony/Jet goes beyond architecture.
The book includes a foreword by photography historian Deborah Willis, six scholarly essays and personal reflections from former Johnson Publishing Company employees. Together, the contributions explore the company’s role in Black visual representation, media, photography, art and design, while offering firsthand accounts of what it was like to work inside the building. Pasted markdown
For generations, Ebony and Jet helped shape how Black America saw itself and how the country saw Black America.
The magazines documented everything from politics and the civil rights movement to fashion, entertainment, family life and culture. Johnson Publishing Company also became an influential force in photography, beauty, design and popular culture.
That legacy extended well beyond the pages of its magazines.
The new book examines Johnson Publishing Company’s continuing influence on artists including Theaster Gates, Hank Willis Thomas, Kwame Brathwaite, Lorna Simpson, Martine Syms and David Hartt. Pasted markdown
For Chicago, the book serves as both an architectural record and a cultural archive. It preserves a place where Black entrepreneurship, media, art and design converged at a scale rarely seen before or since.
820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon is available now from MW Editions. The hardcover volume includes 150 photographs and is priced at $65. Pasted markdown
Karant is also scheduled to present the book during Modernism Week at the Palm Springs Art Museum on Feb. 15, 2027, where she will discuss the connection between the Johnson Publishing Company headquarters and the design legacy of Arthur Elrod and William Raiser.
The post Inside 820 S. Michigan: New Book Captures the Lost World of Ebony and Jet appeared first on Chicago Defender.
Based on reporting by Chicago Defender.
