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Nickel-Leong Mansion
Applicant: Charles J. Fisher
 Nickel-Leong
Mansion, 901 Isabel Street, Cypress Park (photo
by Charles J. Fisher)
Nickel-Leong Mansion, Los
Angeles Historic Cultural Monument
#849
Declared August 16, 2006
Built in 1905, this Antebellum-style Greek
Revival Mansion was designed by John C. Austin for restaurateur Max Nickel. In
1936, the home was sold to Jeung Leong, whose son, Gilbert Leong, was to become
the architect of much of new Chinatown after World War II. The Leong
Family was to own the home until the 1990s and it is featured in Lisa See's book
"On Gold Mountain", which deals with the history of her
Chinese-American family from her Great Grandfather, Fong See, who came with his
Father to work as a herbalist for the Chinese railroad workers in the
1870s. One myth about the house was that it was the home of World
Heavyweight Champion, Jim Jeffries, and has been referred to as the
"Jeffries House" in a number of historic surveys and
publications. In reality, Jeffries lived about a half mile to the East on
what is now the site of Nightingale Middle School. The Jeffries Home was
demolished for the construction in 1936. Jeffries brother owned a
Craftsman house at 751 Cypress Avenue that is listed as Historic Cultural
Monument No. 735. It is the last known Jeffries Family structure remaining
in Cypress Park.
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