Sam Kee Building
The Sam Kee Building, located at 8 West Pender Street in
The Sam Kee Company—originally owned by one of the wealthiest businessmen in Vancouver Chinatown, Chang Toy (also known as Sam Kee)—purchased the standard-sized lot in 1903. In 1912, however, Vancouver widened Pender Street and expropriated 24 feet (7.3 m) of the above-ground portion of the property—effectively (or so it was first believed) making conventional commercial use of the remaining frontage impractical, if not impossible. After Toy refused a neighbour's offer to buy the remaining land, someone bet him that he couldn’t use the land for anything. In 1913, the architects Brown and Gillam designed this narrow, steel-framed building. Its ground-floor depth (from storefront to rear of building) measures 4'11" (1.50 m), with a second-floor depth (from overhanging bay window to rear) of 6' (1.83 m). The basement extends beneath the sidewalk and originally housed public baths, while the ground floor was used for offices and shops and the top story for living quarters.[2]
Historical renovation of the building was designed by Soren Rasmussen and was completed in 1986.[3] It is a tourist attraction and an insurance office.
The building is considered the narrowest commercial building in the world according to the
See also
References
- ^ "Chinatown Vancouver, B.C. Sam Kee building images pictures photographs tourism". www.seechinatown.com. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ Mellon, Steve. (May 30, 2004) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Here in Downtown. Section: Lifestyle; Page F9.
- ^ City of Vancouver website – Heritage Walks
- ^ Mellon, Steve (May 30, 2004). "Here: In Downtown". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on February 5, 2010.
- ^ O'Driscoll, Bill (August 29, 2007) Pittsburgh City Paper A unique Downtown art project holds its final show. Volume 17; Issue 35; Page 40.