“The former On Leong Merchants Association Building has been a symbol of Chinatown for nearly a century, carrying with it a history as colorful as its architecture. And now the 97-year-old Chicago building’s design and backstory might earn it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The program committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks is set to vote May 16 on whether to support a national register listing for the On Leong building, now called the Pui Tak Center. “A ‘yes’ vote could put the recommendation on a path to be approved by the National Park Service around Labor Day.
“The building would be Chinatown’s first national register listing, though the On Leong was made a protected city of Chicago landmark in 1993. Pui Tak Center executive director David Wu said the Chinese Christian Union Church — which has owned the building at 2216 S. Wentworth Ave. since 1993 — applied for national register status.
“‘It’s part of preserving [the building] for the next hundred years,’ Wu said.
“Built in 1928, the On Leong was one of the first buildings constructed in the then-new Chinatown. The On Leong merchants resettled in the area of 22nd Street and Wentworth Avenue after Chinese businesses were essentially gentrified out of the South Loop starting in the 1920s.
“And the building’s terracotta detailing is, hands down, among the city’s finest — and that’s saying something in Chicago — featuring color, abstract shapes, even green-and-gold dragons.
“The building’s architects, Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad, weren’t Chinese, had never stepped foot in China and had never previously designed a Chinese-inspired building.
“This is the kind of building that comes to us, and it’s like: ‘This should have been before us a long time ago,’” said Amy Hathaway, national register specialist with the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office.
“It’s an amazing building, and its history, of course, with the Chinese community in Chicago is incredible. I can’t think of another property in Illinois that would have a closer association with Chinese history and culture.” (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/7/25)