111 E Pender St

This building was constructed in 1903 by Chu Lai of Victoria. Chu Lai was a wealthy trading businessman who had made a good fortune during the Cariboo Gold Rush. He helped launch the Sam Kee and Company, an in important Vancouver trading company, who briefly rented space in this building.

Designed by W.T. Whiteway, a prominent Vancouver architect, the building is an excellent example of the city’s commercial architecture of that era. The building features 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.

The ground floor was used as commercial space and upstairs was residential space. A restaurant called ‘Green Door’ was established in the 1930s, serving general public and gamblers. Tucked away from bustling downtown, the restaurant appealed to many Vancouver’s poets, academics, and revolutionaries during 1960-70s.

This site is part of the Chinatown Historic Area, HA-1 in the City of Vancouver’s zoning bylaw. It is included in the Vancouver Heritage Register as a recognized part of the historic neighbourhood. Other similar municipally protected sites within a Historic Area are marked on the map with an O instead of the usual Heritage Register categories of A, B, or C. Some of these sites may be newer construction but are nonetheless still protected. For more information on the bylaw that governs the Chinatown Historic Area see: https://bylaws.vancouver.ca/zoning/zoning-by-law-district-schedule-ha-1-1a.pdf

Source

Canada's Historic Places

More information

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=7770&pid=10939&h=111,Pender