Chinese Historical Society - Julia Morgan's YWCA

Photo: Gary Stevens, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on San Francisco, District by District, a free self-guided tour.

Climb Clay Street past Stockton to a red-brick building with a tiled roof and Chinese details. Julia Morgan, the architect of Hearst Castle, designed it in 1932 as the Chinatown YWCA, a place where Chinese American women and girls could find housing, classes and recreation at a time when many other doors were closed to them.

Today it houses the Chinese Historical Society of America, founded in 1963 and one of the oldest organizations devoted to Chinese American history. Its exhibits trace the story from the Gold Rush and the railroad through exclusion, the interrogations at the Angel Island Immigration Station and the long fight for citizenship and civil rights. Check the society's website for current hours.

Even from the sidewalk, notice how Morgan blended Western construction with Chinese ornament, the same approach the merchants used on Grant Avenue.

More on Wikipedia: Chinese Historical Society of America · Julia Morgan · Angel Island Immigration Station

Stops on this tour

1. Ferry Building and the Embarcadero - Where the City Met the World
   • The Grand Nave - A Ferry Terminal Reborn
   • Harry Bridges Plaza - The Freeway That Fell
   • Steuart and Mission - Bloody Thursday
   • Rincon Annex - Murals That Reached Congress
2. Financial District and Jackson Square - Gold Rush on the Old Shoreline
   • Clay and Sansome - The Ship Under the Street
   • Transamerica Pyramid - The Site of Halleck's Folly
   • Jackson Square - The Brick Survivors
   • Pacific Avenue - The Barbary Coast
3. Chinatown - The Neighborhood That Refused to Move
   • Dragon Gate - Chinatown's Front Door
   • Old St. Mary's - The Clock With a Warning
   • Chinese Historical Society - Julia Morgan's YWCA
   • Waverly Place - The Street of Temples
   • Portsmouth Square - Where the City Began
4. North Beach and Telegraph Hill - Little Italy and the Beats
   • Columbus Tower - The Green Flatiron
   • City Lights - The Howl Trial
   • Saints Peter and Paul - Washington Square's Spires
   • Coit Tower - Murals on the Hilltop
   • Filbert Steps - Gardens on the Cliff
5. Fisherman's Wharf - Italian Boats and Old Ships
   • Hyde Street Pier - Where Cars Took the Ferry
   • Aquatic Park Bathhouse - A Building Shaped Like a Ship
   • Ghirardelli Square - A Factory Saved
6. Nob Hill and Russian Hill - Cable Cars, Mansions and the Great Fire
   • Fairmont Hotel - Rebuilt by Julia Morgan
   • Flood Mansion - The Survivor in Brownstone
   • Grace Cathedral - On the Crocker Ruins
   • Cable Car Museum - The Working Powerhouse
   • Lombard Street - Russian Hill's Eight Turns
7. The Presidio - Two Centuries Guarding the Golden Gate
   • Officers' Club - Adobe Inside the Walls
   • Building 640 - The Secret Language School
   • Crissy Field - From World's Fair to Airfield to Marsh
   • Fort Point - The Fort Under the Bridge
8. Japantown and the Fillmore - Two Communities, One Neighborhood
   • Peace Plaza - Built on Redevelopment
   • Buchanan Mall - Ruth Asawa's Fountains
   • Kinmon Gakuen - The Line on Bush Street
   • Bop City - The House That Moved
   • The Fillmore - From Dance Hall to Rock Palace
9. Haight-Ashbury - From Victorian Suburb to Summer of Love
   • The Panhandle - Free Food and Free Concerts
   • 710 Ashbury - The Grateful Dead House
   • Haight Ashbury Free Clinic - Care Without Questions
   • Hippie Hill - The Park's Gathering Place
10. Golden Gate Park - Sand Dunes Turned Into a Park
    • Conservatory of Flowers - A Glass House From a Kit
    • Music Concourse - The 1894 World's Fair
    • Japanese Tea Garden - The Hagiwara Family's Garden
11. The Castro - A Neighborhood That Became a Movement
    • Pink Triangle Park - A Memorial in Granite
    • Castro Theatre - The Neighborhood's Movie Palace
    • Castro and 18th - The Honor Walk and the Crossroads
    • Castro Camera - Harvey Milk's Storefront
12. The Mission - Where San Francisco Began
    • Mission Dolores Chapel - Adobe From 1791
    • The Golden Fire Hydrant - The Hydrant That Saved the Mission
    • The Women's Building - MaestraPeace
    • Clarion Alley - A Gallery Without Walls
    • Balmy Alley - Murals of the Americas
13. Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest
    • City Hall - Under the Golden Dome
    • War Memorial - Where the UN Charter Was Signed
    • Civic Auditorium - Built for the 1915 Fair
    • Asian Art Museum - The Old Main Library
    • 50 United Nations Plaza - The 504 Sit-In
14. South of Market - From Rincon Hill to the Tech Boom
    • The Old Mint - The Granite Lady
    • Yerba Buena Gardens - A Waterfall of Words
    • South Park - London Square to Dot-Com Hub
    • Salesforce Park - The City Above the Street