Ralph J. Bunche House

Infobox_nrhp | name =Ralph J. Bunche House
nrhp_type =


caption = Ralph J. Bunche House, 2008
location= 1221 E. 40th Pl., Los Angeles, California
lat_degrees = 34
lat_minutes = 0
lat_seconds = 37
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 118
long_minutes = 15
long_seconds = 9
long_direction = W
locmapin = California
area =
built =1919
architect= Unknown
architecture= No Style Listed
added = May 22 1978
governing_body = Private
refnum=78000686cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Ralph J. Bunche House, also known as the Ralph Bunche Peace & Heritage Center, was the boyhood home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche. Located in South Los Angeles, it was declared a Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #159) in 1976 by the Los Angeles Cutural Heritage Commission and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Bunche's boyhood home

Bunche won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in negotiating and drafting the 1949 Armistice Agreements that ended the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.Benjamin Rivlin, [http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/11/ralph-johnson-bunche.html "Vita": Ralph Johnson Bunche: Brief life of a champion of human dignity: 1903-1971"] , "Harvard Magazine", Nov. 2003.] He was the first person of color from any country to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. [ [http://www.pbs.org/ralphbunche/ Ralph Bunche] , PBS.] Bunche was born in Detroit, Michigan and later lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but moved to Los Angeles to live with his maternal grandmother when his mother died in 1917. Bunche and his sister, Grace, were raised at the house on 40th Place by their grandmother, Lucy Taylor Johnson, their two aunts (Nelle and Ethel), and their uncle Thomas Johnson. [cite news|author=John D. Weaver|title=In Pursuit of a Peacemaker|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1975-09-21] While living in Los Angeles, Bunche became the valedictorian at both Jefferson High School, one-half block away, and UCLA, then located at Vermont Avenue and Melrose. Bunche was also a star basketball player while at UCLA. [cite news|title=UCLA Names Building for Ralph Bunche|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1968-06-30]

Preservation and operation as museum

Bunche's boyhood home fell into disrepair and suffered from vandalism and graffiti in the 1980s and 1990s. The house sat vacant for a decade, "used only by squatters, taggers, gang members, and vagrants." [cite web|title=Bunche House: Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace and Heritage Center|publisher=Congressman Xavier Becerra|url=http://becerra.house.gov/HoR/CA31/District+Page/Bunche+house.htm] In 1996, the home was acquired by the Dunbar Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit group with plans to turn it into a museum. The group's plans were delayed by a lack of funding until the California Community Foundation issued a $100,000 interest-free loan in 1999.cite news|title=Foundation Makes Loan to Restore Bunche Home|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1999-03-10] After a 1999 news report about funding delays and graffiti covering the home, Mayor Richard Riordan donned a hardhat and joined a work crew in cleaning up the home. [cite news|title=Riordan Cuts Red Tape to Begin Restoration of Nobelist's Home|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=1999-03-12] The home has since been preserved and furnished with photographs and memorabilia from Bunche's life. It is operated as the "Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace & Heritage Center," an interpretive museum and community center to promote peaceful interaction of all groups within South Central Los Angeles. The property was fully restored between 2002 and 2004, winning a Los Angeles Conservancy preservation award in 2006. [cite news|title=2008 PRESERVATION AWARD DELIBERATIONS UNDER WAY |publisher=Los Angeles Conservancy|url=http://www.laconservancy.org/issues/issues_presawards.php4] [cite news|author= Andre Coleman|title=(Kid)space preserved|publisher=Pasadena Weekly|date=2006-05-18|url=http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/?id=3419&IssueNum=20] That year, the house was described in the "Los Angeles Times" as "brilliant, with sunlight streaming through modified bay windows, scrubbed wood floors and an airy parlor/den/dining room." [cite news|author=Erin Aubry Kaplan|title=On and off Central Ave.|publisher=Los Angeles Times|date=2006-04-19]

Oral history project

The Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace and Heritage Center Oral History Project is a joint venture with UCLA intended to collect oral histories on Bunche's life in Los Angeles as well as the Central Avenue and Dunbar Hotel community in South Los Angeles. The oral histories collected by the project will be permanently displayed at the Ralph J. Bunche House. [cite web|title=The Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace and Heritage Center Oral History Project|publisher=UCLA|url=http://la.ucla.edu/Grants/2005/dunbar.shtml]

ee also

*List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles
*Ralph Johnson Bunche House, the home in Queens, New York, where Bunche lived for 30 years until his death in 1971.

References