Afternoon Walk around Chinatown

Chinatown in Vancouver is one of the largest Chinatowns in North America. Its location is centred on Pender Street.





China Gate

Lion Statue

'The Sam Kee Building' - The Sam Kee Company, one of the wealthiest firms in turn-of-the-last-century Chinatown, bought this land as a standard-sized lot in 1903. However, in 1912 the City widened Pender Street, expropriating 24 feet off the front of the lot. In 1913 the architects Brown and Gillam designed this narrow, steel-framed building that is only 6 feet wide.

The basement, extending under the sidewalk, housed public baths; offices and shops were on the ground floor and living quarters above. Rehabilitation of the building for Jack Chow was designed by Soren Rasmussen Architect and completed in 1986.

The building is considered the thinnest commercial building in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records.