Overview
Address
623 E Pender St, Vancouver BC
Neighbourhood
Strathcona
type
Residential
Description
This Edwardian, classic-frame house was built in 1908 by Cyrus W. McGillivray who was a lumber contractor and also a hotel proprietor. The house exterior has interesting features including clapboard, scalloped wood shingles, Tuscan columns and Gothic windows.
In 1940, Deaconess of the Anglican Chinese Mission lived in this house. From 1961-1975, Margaret J Gee, the first Chinese Canadian woman pilot officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force lived in this house. She was also the first Chinese-Canadian woman lawyer called to the bar in BC lived in this house. The first Chinese Canadian woman lawyer was Gretta Wong Grant, who was called to the bar in Toronto in 1946, over 20 years after the the first Canadian woman lawyer, Claire Brett Martin, in 1923.
In the late 1990s, the house became a nine-bed rooming house/hotel. In 2003, the house was converted back to a single-family dwelling.
Source
City of Vancouver Heritage Inventory Files, British Columbia City Directories, BC Archives, VHF 2004 Heritage House Tour Guidebook, Road to Justice, Peter Allard School of Law (UBC)
Map
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