Founded by Maria Bowen Chapin, Miss Chapin's School for Girls and Kindergarten for Boys and Girls opened in 1901 at 12 West 47th Street with 78 students and 7 teachers. Eventually expanding and occupying a couple of buildings, the school moved to its current location in 1928. Delano and Aldrich, a New York architecture firm, designed and built the neoclassical building that the school still occupies at 100 East End Avenue. It was at this location that the school's name was changed to the Chapin School at Ms. Chapin's request.