Asian community leader Benjamin Woo was born in Seattle in 1923 and attended Queen Anne High School and the University of Chicago. After military service he returned to Seattle and opened an architectural firm in Madison Park. He directed King County’s Construction and Facilities Management Department and served as president of the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Woo also headed the Chinatown-International District Preservation and Development Authority, championed low-income housing for Asian elderly, and was active in the establishment of the Wing Luke Museum. Ben Woo died at age 84 in 2008.

In the 1970s, deteriorating housing stock and the proposed building of the Kingdome stadium threatened Seattle’s Chinatown - International District. Architects Ben Woo (right) and Tom Kubota (left) were among those who worked with the city to decide how best to preserve the area.

Caption information source: The Seattle Times: September 11, 1976, p 6; February 12, 2008.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.