Chinese Historical Society of America Museum and Learning Center

The building was the Chinatown YWCA, designed by Julia Morgan. The San Francisco YWCA resolved in October 1929 to build on three lots bounded by Joice, Clay and Powell Streets; Morgan was contracted and, after consulting Chinese Americans, worked elements of Chinese arts and crafts into the design. SF Planning records the construction year as 1932. The building housed the YWCA until it was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, and the YWCA board agreed to sell it to the society in 1996; the museum opened in the building in November 2001. The society itself was incorporated on 5 January 1963 and had earlier homes at 17 Adler Place from 1966 and at 650 Commercial Street from June 1989. Twelve Gum Shan paintings by Jake Lee and James Leong's mural One Hundred Years: History of the Chinese in America are on permanent display. The building is nicknamed the Lantern on the Hill.