Chicago police arson detectives continue to investigate a weekend fire at the Swift Mansion in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The owners of the historic 131-year-old building allegedly moved to evict nine residents in the weeks leading up to the blaze, authorities said.
Three tenants of the mansion, located at 4500 S. Michigan Ave., filed lawsuits in late November against the building’s owners. The complaints allege nine low-income tenants were illegally evicted from the building to make room for South American migrants who have made their way to Chicago.
The lawsuits each allege the building owners entered into a contract with the city to provide housing for migrants within the mansion. The first hearing in each of the lawsuits is scheduled for mid-January 2024, court records show.
Procurement data listed by the city shows no contracts with the building owners, but records from the city’s Department of Buildings show a permit was issued on Nov. 1 to replace or repair drywall inside.
The building owners could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Emergency crews were called to the mansion around 11:20 a.m. Sunday after the fire broke out on the building’s second floor, Chicago Fire Department officials said at the time.
CFD said it believes the fire began in a rear stairwell as a result of “human action.”
The mansion, reminiscent of a castle, with hand-carved oak walls, was built
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in the 1890s for a daughter of Gustavus Swift, founder of the famed meat company. Later, it was a funeral parlor, office quarters for the Chicago Urban League and home to the Inner City Youth & Adult Foundation.A representative for the Red Cross said volunteers were working with displaced residents to help them meet their immediate needs.