Issei Women’s Legacy Donor Board

Nihonmachi Little Friends, a bilingual and multicultural preschool in San Francisco’s Japantown, is housed in historic building with a priceless legacy. In 1932, renowned architect Julia Morgan donated her services to the Issei (first generation) women of the Japanese YWCA to design a unique building with cultural features such an auditorium with an authentic Noh theater stage. To fund acquisition and repairs to the building NLF created the Issei Women’s Legacy campaign. NDD created a donor recognition board for NLF that maintained the architectural integrity of Julia Morgan’s work by matching trim profiles, structural details and stain colors, while adhering to historic preservation standards. Panels incorporated into the donor board explain the significance of the building and the community’s efforts to regain community ownership of the facility.