{"nrhp_refnum":"78000686","name":"Bunche, Ralph J., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1221 E. 40th Pl.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Angeles","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.01021719900007,"lon":-118.25342965299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-story builder's bungalow with shiplap siding at 1221 East 40th Place, Los Angeles, built around 1910. It was originally addressed as 1221 East 37th Street before the street was renumbered in 1938.","why_significant":"The house is nominated for its association with Ralph J. Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize winner and diplomat of international standing. He lived there from early 1919 to 1927, through high school and UCLA, and regarded it as home until his marriage in 1930. The nomination evaluates its significance at the national level.","narrative":"This modest one-story bungalow at 1221 East 40th Place in Los Angeles, built around 1910, is notable as the boyhood and student home of diplomat Ralph J. Bunche. He moved in with his grandmother, aunts, uncle and sister in early 1919, at age 14, and lived there until the summer of 1927, finishing Jefferson High School and UCLA during those years. He considered it home until he married in 1930. Bunche later became the first Ph.D. in political science of his race in the nation, helped found Howard University's political science department, worked with the State Department and the United Nations, and directed the 1949 armistice negotiations between Israel and Arab states. That work earned him the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. The house has shiplap siding, a gabled bay window and a front porch. Its exterior is largely unchanged, though the interior was altered in 1940 when it was converted to a duplex. The city had already designated it a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1976.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific date c. 1910)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Builder's bungalow","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as a private residence, with condition marked fair. The exterior is described as essentially unaltered since Bunche lived there; interior changes were made in 1940 when it became a duplex.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.285303-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000686.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000686/015783675c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000686/015783675c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Los Angeles","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralph_J._Bunche_House,_Los_Angeles.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ralph_J._Bunche_House,_Los_Angeles.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858997","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_J._Bunche_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7287691"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/bunche-ralph-j-house-78000686/"}