311 East Armory: The Phi Kappa Chapter Home
on the University of Illinois Campus
The Phi Kappa Chapter was chartered on May 30,1916 after members of the local fraternity, Chi Delta, (founded April 20, 1914) petitioned the AXP National Council.
Phi Kappa was the 14th Resident Chapter chartered by AXP's National Council, It was the first AXP chapter outside the original thirteen colonies and marked the beginning of the “Westward Expansion” of AXP into a “National” fraternity. (With 102 Chapters chartered; 28 currently active.)
In the years before the Chapter House at 311 East Armory was completed, the Brothers resided in three separate rented houses in Champaign.
On September 16, 1919 the Resident and Graduate Brothers entered into a purchase agreement for lots #127 and #128 (.31 acres) of the College Place Section of Champaign where the Chapter House now stands.
Title is held by the Phi Kappa Building Association of Alpha Chi Rho Fraternity, a State of Illinois chartered corporation.
By April 1920, the land purchase was finalized and the land cleared for construction of the Chapter House.
The $45,000 cost was financed by a $30,000 mortgage and a $15,000 House Bond Issue purchased by Brothers and parents.
In early 1922, the finished Chapter House at 311 East Armory was finally occupied.
With a brand new House, the Chapter grew rapidly. By the end of the decade, the Resident Chapter had to rent the building behind the Chapter House as an annex for the growing number of Brothers and postulants.
In the 1940's, due to wartime conditions, the Phi Kappa Charter was surrendered on March 19,1943, although the few remaining Brothers stayed in the House until semester end.
Soon after, the vacant Chapter House was leased to the University and used to house ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) men until the Fall of 1944. Then a faculty member's family was engaged as House caretaker until the Fall of 1945.
The Resident Charter was formally returned on October 12,1945 and the House opened for returning Brothers and new pledges.
During the following decades the Chapter House was generally full and active.
Then due to declining participation, the Resident Chapter was closed at the end of the 1995 Spring Semester.
From 1995 to 2001 the Chapter House was first used as a boarding house, then rented out to the local chapter of the Chi Psi fraternity.
On September 22, 2001, an AXP Colony formally returned to campus with 12 resident postulants.
In November 2003 the Phi Kappa Chapter was formally rechartered.
At the end of the 2017 Spring semester the Resident Chapter Charter was suspended. The House became an AirBnB, realizing about $25,000.
Beginning in the Fall of 2018, the Chapter House was rented to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
In the Fall of 2022 it was once again occupied by some of the postulants of the new Phi Kappa Colony.
Due to declining participation and the small number of undergraduates residing in the House, the Phi Kappa Colony was disbanded at the end of the Spring Semester 2024.
As the Fall Semester of 2024 began, once again 311 E Armory was rented to members of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.