{"nrhp_refnum":"84000759","name":"Choy, Sam, Brick Store","other_names":["Angels Camp Jail"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Bird Way","address_restricted":false,"city":"Angels Camp","county":"Calaveras County","state":"CA","lat":38.069136557000036,"lon":-120.53943567199997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Asian","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick and schist-stone former merchant's store on Bird Way in Angels Camp, Calaveras County, California, built in 1860-61 for Chinese merchant Sam Choy. It later served as a city jail and is owned by the City of Angels Camp.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of only two remaining buildings from the period of Chinese occupancy in Angels Camp, tied to the prosperous merchant Sam Choy. It is also presented as an outstanding example of 1855-65 Mother Lode commercial architecture, with a three-bay brick front and stone side and rear walls. Its later uses as a boarding house and the city jail add to its unusual local history.","narrative":"Built in 1860-61 on what is now Bird Way in Angels Camp, this small commercial building has a three-bay brick front, brick relieving arches over two doors and a window, and solid native schist side and rear walls. It was built for Sam Choy, a successful Chinese merchant who occupied it until 1892 and who also owned gambling houses and supplied contract labor to mine owners. Chinatown once held about 20 properties, and this store is described as one of only two surviving from that era. After 1892 the building gained a frame second story and was used as a boarding house, and in the 1930s the upper story was removed when it became the city jail, a use that lasted until the mid-1950s. Iron shutters, some with holes cut for the jail, remain. The building is now empty, and the City of Angels Camp hopes to restore it as a museum. A plaque was placed on its west wall in 1980.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900- (specific dates 1860, 1930's)","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Mother Lode brick Classical Revival (stripped Classical Revival commercial building)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant and in the city's hands; the nomination states it has stood empty for many years, and the city plans to restore it as a museum.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.542437-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/84000759.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000759/7b48453d5a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84000759/7b48453d5a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Bobak Ha'Eri","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0724-CA-SamChoyBrickStore.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bobak Ha'Eri</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2009-0724-CA-SamChoyBrickStore.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858470","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Choy_Brick_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7407318"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/calaveras-county/choy-sam-brick-store-84000759/"}