Armour Flats collection, ca. 1900

Around the perimeter of the block bounded by 33rd, Dearborn, 34th, and Federal Streets [AKA, Butterfield St; Armour Ave.] on the South Side of Chicago, Philip D. Armour, Sr. built 213 apartments which he rented to employees of Armour & Co., his family's meat packing business located a mile southwest. Income from Armour Flats supplemented the original endowment created by brothers Joseph and Philip Armour to provide the operational funds for Armour Mission which was located adjacent to the Flats. The Flats were designed by Chicago architectural firm Patten & Fisher and built in 1888 and served as residential rental units to the Armour employees and, later, to faculty of the Armour Institute of Technology (also built by P.D. Armour adjacent to the Flats). Originally, the Flats held 213 separate suites of apartments. The office of Armour Flats was at 3322 Armour Ave. (previously, Butterfield St.; currently, Federal St.). Portions of the buildings were razed by P. D. Armour in 1917; an additional 56 units on the west side of Federal St. and 18 units on 34th St. were razed in 1919. The sections of the Flats that were left were used by Armour Institute and Illinois Institute of Technology as classrooms, lab, and office space for physics and psychology programs. When used for academic purposes the building was identified as Chapin Hall. Chapin Hall was razed in 1986.