SEATTLE, Wash. — A local museum has made it possible for you to step back in time –into the 1930s and 40s – to see what it was like to be in the home of a young, immigrant couple and their family in Seattle.
A family in the Chinatown International District (CID) partially sold and donated their home to the Wing Luke Museum, which carefully restored it and opened it for tours.
It’s one of the neighborhood’s last single-family homes, and has a large loquat tree – common in China – in the front yard. The family that lived there for generations planted it.
“These are the family’s ancestral portraits. In the middle here, the couple, this is Suen King Eng and Sue Fong Eng,” said Jennifer Fang, Director of Exhibits for the Wing Luke Museum, as she stood in the living room of the house.
Fang says Suen and Sue built the cinderblock house in the 1930’s.
As Chinese immigrants, they were prevented from owning a home, so they deeded it to their American-born, 8-year-old son. The family was resilient and made things work.
“They had six kids. Five of the six kids grew up in this home, and all the kids went on to have families. And their own children.” Generations of the same family gathered there for decades.
“There were lots of Sunday family gatherings where the different families and the extended families would come together and have an elaborate Sunday meal,” Fang said.
The Eng family is now sharing their home with the public, after the museum painstakingly restored the house to what it was like for the young family in the 30s and 40s.
“The radio, we believe, is original to the house. This clock is also original to this house,” Fang said, walking through the home.
The museum sourced non-original pieces to match the time period and the family’s memories. “We learned from the family that they had ivory chopsticks,” said Fang, pointing to a table. “These ones are not ivory; they’re reproduction ivory, but they were very insistent, like, oh no, we had white ivory chopsticks, that’s what we used,” she explained.
The detail, down to the food in the kitchen cupboards, reflects a melting-pot family with traditional Asian and American food sitting side by side. The home is a tangible reminder of the era, culture, and the family’s ingenuity.
“We are coming from the kitchen downstairs, and this is where the family’s bean sprout operation was,” said Fang, entering a small basement.
“They would put the beans into this bin. And you’ll see that it has drainage holes. And they would cover the bin and water the bean sprouts several times a day for a period of a few days until they sprouted and became bean sprouts.”
Fang says the family became a major beansprout supplier to restaurants and other customers throughout World War Two and beyond.
The home and its stories are impressing visitors, now that the museum is leading tours of the house.
“It felt like traveling back in time, in a way. “We got to see where they grew up, where they had their dinner, where their meals were made,” said Joe Echeverria, after a recent tour.
Visitor Brianna Celix said the tour made history more tangible. “You read all the history books. You read the stories, but to actually be able to come and be present where they lived is absolutely incredible.”
Noor Abdi, another visitor, said it was a poignant reminder, “It’s like an unconscious way of reminding us to be thankful for whatever was done by the previous generation. We don’t take things for granted.”
As visitors exit the museum, they pass a loquat tree planted by the Eng family near the front of their home. Decades later, it still stands there, bearing fruit.
“This loquat tree, thriving for so many decades in a climate that is inhospitable to it and growing so big and continuing to bear fruit every year that feeds everyone around it, it just feels like a symbol of the Eng family,” Fang said.
For tours of the Eng family home, contact the Wing Luke Museum and find more information on their website.