Hotel St. Benedict Flats

Address: 40-52 E. Chicago Ave. Year Built: 1882 - 1883 Architect: James J. Egan Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: March 26, 1996

A particularly fine--and rare--surviving example of Victorian Gothic design, this is one of the city's best late-19th century apartment buildings. Because early luxury apartments in America were viewed with skepticism, the Chicago Avenue facade of this building was designed to look like a series of four separate townhouses. The building was named in honor of the Benedictine order, which had maintained a church on the site until the Chicago Fire of 1871. The architect, James Egan, was noted throughout the Midwest for his designs of residential, commercial, government, and ecclesiastical buildings.