On Leong Merchants Association Building (Pui Tak Center), Chicago芝加哥安良工商会大楼（原设神坛）
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- United States · Illinois · Chicago · 2216 S. Wentworth Avenue, Chicago's South Chinatown
- Coordinates
- 41.852306, -87.63222 Map ↗
- First built
- 1927 · Built 1926–1927, by architects Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad
- Heritage status
- National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) (2 September 2025)City of Chicago Landmark
Overview
The On Leong Merchants Association Building was completed in 1926–1927, designed by the Norwegian-American architects Christian S. Michaelsen and Sigurd A. Rognstad, and is the most representative Chinese Revival-style building in the American Midwest, often called "Chinatown's City Hall." The On Leong Merchants Association was one of the major tong associations in North America, and when the building was completed it housed an altar, making it one of the early religious centers of Chicago's Chinatown. In 1988 the building changed hands after a federal seizure and was purchased by the Chinese Christian Union, which converted it into the Pui Tak Center; today it offers family literacy, music, computer and youth programs, and the original altar no longer exists. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 2 September 2025, the first such listing for Chicago's Chinatown. This entry is included to record the tong altar as a form of Chinese religious life in North America, not to classify the present site as a Daoist location — the building is now owned and used by a Christian organization, and this must be made clear.
Highlights
- Built 1926–1927, a representative Chinese Revival-style building of the Midwest
- Long known as "Chinatown's City Hall"; originally housed a tong altar
- Changed hands in 1988; today is the Christian Pui Tak Center
- Listed on the NRHP in 2025, the first such listing for Chicago's Chinatown