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The Pui Tak Center (), formerly known as the On Leong Merchants Association Building, is a building located in Chicago's Chinatown. Designed by architects Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad, the building was built for the On Leong Merchants Association and opened in 1928. The Association used it as an immigrant assistance center, and the building was informally referred to as Chinatown's "city hall". In 1988, the FBI and Chicago Police raided the building as part of a racketeering investigation. The US federal government seized the building that same year. The building was purchased by the Chinese Christian Union Church (CCUC) for $1.4 million and renamed the Pui Tak Center in 1993. That same year, the On Leong Merchants Association Building was designated a Chicago landmark by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. The CCUC spent $1 million raised from community donations to renovate and update the building's neglected interior. The newly named Pai Tak Center now hosts various religious, community, and educational programs, such as English-as-a-Second-Language courses (ESL). In 2007, the Pui Tak Center won a $100,000 grant from the Partners in Preservation, a program sponsored by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In preparation for the restoration work, the structural and architectural engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates completed an evaluation of the building's eastern and southern facades, focusing on its terra cotta portions. Restoration work began in spring 2009 and is scheduled for completion in early 2010. Fully restoring the building's exterior terra cotta pieces and clay roof tiles is the first step in a long-range $2 million repair plan. ==History== In 1912, Chinese businesses began relocating from the Loop to Chicago's South Side.〔Chun 2005, p. 56.〕 Starting this trend, the On Leong Chinese Merchants Association appealed to deed-holder and former Illinois State's Attorney Jacob J. Kern to hire architect H. J. Swanson to design a building large enough to house 15 stores, 30 apartments and office space on the 200 block of West 22nd Street (now Cermak Road).〔 Built in 1912 for $200,000, the building's design was typical of the period; however, it featured white tile trim adorned with Chinese dragons and a third floor balcony.〔 〕 The Association relocated to the building's third floor by 1914.〔〔 In the 1920s, Chinese community leaders secured approximately 50 ten-year leases on properties in the newly developing Chinatown.〔 Jim Moy, director of the Association, then decided that a Chinese-style building should be constructed as a strong visual announcement of the Chinese community's new presence in the area.〔Ho 2005, p. 58.〕 With no Chinese-born architects in Chicago at the time, Chicago-born Norse architects Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad were asked to design the On Leong Merchants Association Building in the spring of 1926. Moy decided to employ the pair again after Michaelsen and Rognstad's firm built Moy's Peacock Inn in Uptown in 1920.〔 After studying texts on Chinese architecture,〔 Michaelsen and Rognstad's final design was an example of Orientalism, a Western architect's interpretation of Chinese architectural forms.〔 〕 A good substitute for the ''liu li'' glazed ceramic found in traditional Chinese architecture, Rognstad designed exterior Teco sculptural accents, a type of terra cotta produced by Crystal Lake, Illinois's American Terra Cotta Company.〔〔Sinkevitch 2004, p. 371.〕 When the building plans were announced in the ''Chicago Tribune'' on July 4, 1926, the building was called, "One of the most expensive and elaborate buildings ever erected in America by the Chinese".〔 Construction began in 1926 and was completed a year later for the cost of $1 million.〔 When the building opened in 1928, the On Leong Merchants Association used it as an immigrant assistance center that housed various meeting halls, a school, a shrine, and the Association's offices.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=On Leong Merchants Association Building )〕 It was often informally referred to as Chinatown's "city hall".〔 In 1941, the On Leong Association offered Reverend John T.S. Mao space in the building to open St. Therese Chinese Catholic School, a Catholic grade school. By the 1950s, the school had become overcrowded, but it remained in the building until construction of a new, devoted school building was completed in 1961.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Part III - St. Therese Chinese Catholic Mission )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pui Tak Center」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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