ArtistMary Belcher
On Leong Building
Date1997
MediumWatercolor
Dimensions16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Framed Size: 16 1/2 x 20 in. (41.9 x 50.8 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH1999.001
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
- Dpt of Buildings Licensing & Consumer Protection(1100 4th St SW)
DescriptionThis building was an anchor for Washington’s Chinese community, after the community was displaced from the foot of Capitol Hill because of an expanding federal-building complex. The painting “On Leong Building” was one of a series of Chinatown, DC, works that the artist Mary Belcher wanted to create when the downtown sports arena—now the Verizon Center—was being planned. Afraid that Chinatown’s residents and businesses would once again be displaced, she wanted to document Chinatown before it was too late.
