135 E Pender St

135 East Pender Street is a three-storey brick commercial building, with a store at street level with a Tong Association meeting hall above.

Completed in 1923, this building was designed by local English-Canadian architect A. Ernest Henderson for Chinese-Canadian owners, replacing ‘Business Building’ built by Chinese-Canadian architect W. H. Chow, and has many architectural features of the Chinatown building style of the day.

The uses were also representative of the area, with the ground floor dedicated to retail businesses, the mezzanine floor for storage, and upper floors for a restaurant and community service associations. At least three surname associations (‘Tongs’) have occupied the building: the Hoi Ping Association, the Lung Kong Kung Shaw Association, and the Lee Kwong Kai Society. The latter two groups have been associated with the building since its construction.

Organizational life flourished in Chinatown during the early 1920s; the number of active Tongs expanded and they assumed an important role as property owners along Pender Street. Such expansion is driven by an increased influx of Chinese people from China and other places in the Province and an increased interest in Chinese politics with intensified discrimination from the mainstream community. With their significant impact on both development of Chinatown and community life, the Tongs enriched building’s heritage value.

Source

Canada`s Historic Places

More information

http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=7795&pid=0