Chinatown Heritage and Visitors Center

These two working-class homes harken back to Los Angeles’ early development. The one-story frame cottages are rare surviving examples of the type of residences that once made up the neighborhood. Distinctive features such as roofs with shallow eaves, decorated gables, simple porches, and wood clapboard siding exemplify the Queen Anne Style of the late nineteenth century. The homes were built by Alsatian immigrant Philip Fritz, a carpenter for the Bridges and Buildings Department of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Fritz family members lived in the homes as recently as 1992. Currently owned by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California, the buildings house a research collection, bookstore, artifacts, and displays related to local and national Chinese and Asian American history.