490 Columbia St

The date of construction of this building is not clear. In 1890, it first appears in city directories as the Avenue Hotel, owned by W. S. Cook. An insurance map from 1901 records the Avenue Hotel as a “Chinese Hotel.”

The location of the hotel was in an area of town that was partly occupied by Chinese business and partly occupied by white lodging house keepers (or possibly brothel owners). The building’s occupants have changed over time: there have been stores selling dry goods and men’s furnishings, Tom’s Taxis, Sen Sen barber’s store and the Joyland Arcade.

In 1974, the rooms were closed as a result of new City by-laws. The Dart Coon Club (an organisation loosely associated with the Chinese Freemasons) re-developed the building and reopened it in 1981.

Three murals, added in 2010, show the Wah Chong Laundry (which was on Water Street), Chinese men in 1936, and a 1905 merchant called Lee Chong. The artist is Arthur Shu Ren Cheng and the work was initiated by the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association.

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

Changing Vancouver blog

More information

https://changingvancouver.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/east-pender-and-columbia-street-2/