Pui Tak Center
(On Leong Chinese Merchants’ Association Building)
2216 S. Wentworth Ave.
1928, Michaelsen & Rognstad
After relocating from downtown, the On Leong tong carried on their activities—a hostel for immigrants, a Chinese-language school, business, job-placement, and dating services—in various nearby locations. For their new building they turned to Michaelsen & Rognstad, who had done restaurant remodelings for a prominent member. Although unfamiliar with Chinese architecture, they were willing students. Rognstad was responsible for the sculptural program, executed in terra-cotta, a very good substitute for the liu li glazed ceramic of traditional Chinese architecture. Polychrome terra-cotta flowers, vases, and moths cover the walls. Lions guard the doorway, their heads twisted so they face us but do not turn their backs on each other, which would be bad luck.
