Description of Historic Place

The historic place is a small two-storey brick block, located mid-block on the 100-block of East Pender Street, in the heart of Vancouver’s historic Chinatown.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of 111 East Pender Street is derived from its association with the Chinese merchant, Chu Lai, its representative history of use, and its architecture. The Victoria-based Chu Lai erected the building in 1903. Like others in his small group of peers, Chu earned his wealth in trading businesses during the Cariboo Gold Rush. He also took an active role in the community, successfully challenging discriminatory legislation, helping to establish social associations, and promoting education. Chu cultivated his ties with other Chinese who came to British Columbia. One was Chang Toy, whom Chu helped to establish Sam Kee and Company, an important Vancouver trading company, and which briefly rented space in this building. Value is also seen in the Victoria-based Chu Lai’s decision to invest in Vancouver, reflecting the rising status of the mainland city as the trading centre of BC.

Following a common pattern in Chinatown, for most of the building’s history, the ground floor was occupied by trading companies, with residential and club rooms upstairs. The rear, facing what is often called ‘Market Alley’, has its own history of use. A restaurant, known as the ‘Green Door,’ first opened onto the lane in the 1930s. The kitchen served both the general public and also the gambling club on the Pender Street side. The ‘secret’ location of the restaurant appealed to Vancouver’s poets, academics, and revolutionaries, who adopted it as a hangout in the 1960s and 1970s, a period when Chinatown came to be frequented by non-Chinese. The diverse history of use reflects the complex history of Chinatown, and what it has meant through time and to different groups of people.

The building also has architectural value. It is a little gem, featuring a pair of bay windows (popular at the time) and fine brick and sheet-metal detailing, including the corbels in the recessed panels over the windows and the delicate cornice at the top. Designed by W.T. Whiteway, a leading Vancouver architect whose achievements included the tall Sun Tower nearby, it is representative of the city’s commercial architecture of the day. It precedes the development of a distinctive Chinatown style of architecture, seen in neighbouring buildings, which feature vertical proportions and recessed balconies.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 111 East Pender Street include:
- Its contribution to the variety of the streetscape, being lower than its neighbouring properties, yet asserting the quality of its design
- The use of brick and pressed sheet-metal on the facade, including elements such as the sheet-metal blocking course combined with brick dentils below, and the sheet-metal cornice over recessed wall panels with shaped stone corbels below
- The articulation of the facade into two distinct bays, each flanked by brick pilasters and containing a bay window lighting the upper floor
- Components of the bay windows, including the sheet-metal hoods, the cornice, and the form of the modern plywood replacement decorated panels beneath each window
- The arrangement of the store front, which comprises four entries flanking two small stores
- The masonry on the east and west sides of the storefront, including the banded rustic stone and bull-nosed brick piers, and the stopped brick chamfers
- The wood storefront elements, including parts of the window frames, transoms, and door posts, and the wainscot of the easternmost entry
- The door opening onto the alley