On Leong Merchants Association Building

Address: 2216 S. Wentworth Ave. Year Built: 1926 - 1927 Architect: Michaelsen & Rognstad Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: December 1, 1993

The business association that commissioned this building was instrumental in creating Chicago's Chinatown in 1912. The building housed various meeting halls, a school, a shrine, and the association's offices. Its Oriental-style design was derived from the architecture of the Kwangtung district of China, the ancestral region of many of Chinatown's early residents. Indicative of Chicago's multi-ethnic character, its architects were of Norwegian ancestry.