Overview
Address
133 Keefer St, Vancouver BC
Neighbourhood
Chinatown
type
Commercial
Protection & Recognition
- M: Municipal Protection
Significance
C: Contextual or Character
Description
This building was built in 1910 as a warehouse and meter repair shop for the Vancouver Gas Company.
It was designed by leading architects Sharp and Thompson. The owner, Vancouver Gas Company requested a “functionally flexible building”. There is a warehouse function but also a large expanse of facades, which were “dressed up” to make it appear more like an office building.
It is the only extant building remaining from the first goal gas manufacturing complex of this early Vancouver utility. It is one of a handful of buildings associated with intense industrial use on the north shore of False Creek. The gas complex was located here to unload coal barged from Vancouver Island.
The Vancouver Gas Company became part of BC Electric Co. After BC Electric Co. sold the building, it was used for commercial purposes by partnerships made up of both the European and Chinese-Canadian communities, including O’Grady Sheet Metal Co. whcih sold equipment to Chinese restaurants.
Source
City of Vancouver
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