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a repository of brilliantly colored building terra cotta designed by architects michaelsen and rognstad

the first chinese arrived in chicago after 1869, shortly after the first transcontinental railroad was completed. by the late 19th century, a quarter of chicago's approximately six hundred chinese residents settled just south of downtown along clark street between van buren and harrison streets. in 1889, sixteen chinese-owned businesses were located along the two-block stretch, including eight grocery stores, two butcher shops, and a restaurant.

beginning in the early 20th century, the chinese population living in this area migrated further south to armour square. the move to the new south side chinatown was led by the on leong merchants association who, in 1912, had a building constructed along cermak avenue (then 22nd street) that could house 15 stores, 30 apartments, and the association's headquarters. while the building's design was typical of the period, it also featured chinese ornament including tiled dragons.

https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/postcard-chicago-chinatown-greetings-line-signs-c1960.jpg

in the 1920’s, chinese community leaders secured approximately fifty ten-year leases on properties within the rapidly developing chinatown. due to severe racial discrimination, these leases needed to be secured via an intermediary, h. o. stone company. jim moy, then-director of the on leong merchants association, decided that a chinese-style building should be constructed as a strong visual announcement of the chinese community's new presence in the area.

with no chinese-born architects in chicago at the time, norse architects christian s. michaelsen and sigurd a. rognstad were asked to design the extant on leong merchants association building in spring, 1926. when the building opened in 1928 at a cost of a million dollars, it was the finest large chinese-style structure in any north american Chinatown. The on leong association allowed the chinese consolidated benevolent association to put its headquarters in the new building and also used it as an immigrant assistance center, a school, a shrine, a meeting hall, and office space for the association itself. it was often informally referred to as chinatown's "city hall. in 1928, michaelsen and rognstad designed two other buildings in the area—won kow restaurant, chinatown's oldest restaurant, and the moy shee d.k association building, the former receiving a two-story addition in 1932.

note: the glazed polychrome terra cotta adorning the buildings photographed for this blog entry was fabricated by either the american terra cotta company or the midland terra cotta company.

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