Gilbert Lester Leong (1911-1996) was a Chinese-American architect who designed churches and public buildings in the Los Angeles area. He was the first Chinese-American to graduate from USC with a degree in architecture. His designs helped shape the architecture of postwar Los Angeles and Chinatown. Leong was also a co-founder of the East West Bank in 1973. The bank was set up to serve the Chinese American community in Southern California.
Education Leong studied painting and sculpture at Chouinard Art Institute under Millard Sheets USC degree in architecture (1936)
Career After graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in architecture, Leong worked with architects Paul Williams and Harwell Hamilton Harris. Leong eventually began to work on his own. Leong designed both residential and public buildings in his career. He had an influence on the postwar California architecture of Los Angeles.
Exhibitions In 1936 the work of Leong was featured at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibition was entitled "Oriental Artists". In 2012 Steven Wong and Floridia Cheung highlighted Leong's work at the Chinese American Museum in an exhibit called "Breaking Ground", alongside three contemporaneous Chinese American architects active in Los Angeles: Eugene Kinn Choy, Helen Liu Fong, and Gin D. Wong.
Designs +Selected Chinatown buildings by Gilbert Leong Name Image Year Address Notes/Refs. Chinese United Methodist Church 1947 825 N Hill First Chinese Baptist Church 1951 942 Yale Kong Chow Family Association and Temple 1960 931 N Broadway King Hing Theater 1962 647 N Spring Bank of America 1972 850 N Broadway With Richard Layne Tom Phoenix Bakery 1977 969 N Broadway
Other designs by Leong include: Tract homes for builder George Ponty in the Ponty-Vanowen (San Fernando Valley) and Ponty-Anaheim developments. Homes for Judge Delbert Wong (1954) and Dr. Miguel Tirado (1959) in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. Interior court and authentic Chinese garden in the Pacific Asian Museum in Pasadena. Co-designed Logo for the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Personal Leong was born in 1911: he was the son of Chinese immigrant parents. He was the first Chinese American to graduate from USC with a degree in architecture. Leong served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and worked for Paul R. Williams after the war. Leong and his family owned the Soochow Restaurant in Los Angeles. Leong co-founded the East West Bank in 1973. Leong died in Pasadena California on August 23, 1996.
Leong married Florence "Sissee" See in 1942; she was the daughter of Chinatown businessman Fong See and the great-aunt of novelist Lisa See, who documented the family's history in her memoir On Gold Mountain at Sissee's request. Leslee Leong, the daughter of Gilbert and Florence, inherited the F. Suie One Co., which had been founded by Fong See.
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Includes images of private homes and public buildings designed by Leong.