A few years ago, I lived sever blocks south from this SRO in the South Loop (might be considered Printer's Row) neighborhood of Chicago.
It's squeezed between Federal and county buildings, and the commercial district. It's not residential but neither is it an undesirable part of town (w/r/t physical location). Indeed, it's the site of the old Chinatown.
It's as if this singular block was forgotten as modernization/gentrification reshaped everything else. It's curious.