![\"Union](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/dddb1_15071599148_29443b30d1.jpg\")
Image by Ted\u2019s photos \u2013 Returns late December<\/a><\/i>
\nThis building is the latest addition to the rapidly changing face of Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown. The edges of the community are seeing increasing numbers of buildings razed for new condo construction. A block west of here on Main Street between Georgia and Keefer is seeing the entire east side of the street under construction and the lot north of Keefer on Main the same thing.
\nThis building on East Georgia is not the first new one on the block between Main and Gore and two more are underway.
\nIt may be difficult for some businesses to hold on unless the new residents shop local as the pressure to sell for big profit may be too tempting. Hopefully city rezoning practices will save the community.
\nVancouver\u2019s Chinatown is the largest in Canada and the second largest in North America after San Francisco and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2010.
\nIn the last year or two efforts have been made to revitalize the historical Chinatown. The City of Vancouver along with provincial and federal departments and the local Chinese business and cultural communities have joined to contribute to this initiative.<\/p>\n
HERITAGE VALUE: \u2013 From “Canada\u2019s Historic Places”
\nVancouver\u2019s Chinatown was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in June 2010 because:
\n\u2013 one of the oldest and largest Chinatowns in the country, its physical fabric, its development as a self-segregated enclave, due in part to racially motivated hostility elsewhere in the city prior to the Second World War, and its ongoing uses reflect the many contributions and struggles of Chinese Canadians throughout most of their history in this country;
\n\u2013 it [Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown] is characterized by a distinctive \u201crecessed balcony\u201d style of architecture, a hybrid style that blends aspects of Chinese regional architecture with western styles and building methods that is seen most clearly in Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown. Common architectural features include deeply recessed balconies, a strong verticality, mezzanines, and a separate, narrow door at grade leading to a deep staircase to the upper floors. These features taken together create a harmonious ensemble; and,
\n\u2013 Chinatown is one of the earliest established communities of Vancouver and has remained a vital element of the physical and cultural history of the city.
\nIn addition, the heritage value of Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown lies in its ties to the development of the social and cultural life of Chinese immigrants to British Columbia and Canada, and to the commercial activities of Vancouver\u2019s original business and port districts. The district is defined by its form, embellishments, layout and architecture. Incorporated in 1886, Vancouver became a major point of entry for new Chinese immigrants, many of whom settled in Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown. Chinese labourers were granted a 160-acre lease and built their settlement along Main Street at East Pender. In the early 1900s, Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown became Canada\u2019s leading Chinatown, remaining so until the 1970\u2019s. Within the district\u2019s streetscapes the 70 contiguous properties are a mix of commercial, residential and cultural buildings, alleys and courtyards, many dating from the early 20th century. Significant newer cultural resources, such as the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Classical Garden and Park (1986), the Chinese Cultural Centre (1981-86) and the Millennium Gate (2002), enhance the traditional Chinese character of the area.
\nProtected since 1971 under provincial and municipal heritage legislation, the area has 24 properties listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register. Vancouver\u2019s Chinatown displays a continuity and connection to its past, and \u2013 as a working urban neighbourhood \u2013 offers lively contrasts between its peaceful public garden, distinctive buildings and colourful street-life.<\/p>\n
A brief history of Chinatown
\nNeighbourhood dates back to mid- 1880s, making it almost as old as Gastown<\/p>\n
The Vancouver Sun November 15, 2014
\nChinatown is as old as the City of Vancouver. Thousands of Chinese labourers were imported to Canada to build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s, and some of them settled around Carrall and Dupont ( now Pender) when the railway was finished.
\nInitially Chinatown was concentrated in the two blocks between Carrall and Westminster ( now Main), but by the 1920s it had spread east to Gore and south to Union.
\nThe neighbourhood was designated a provincial heritage district in 1971, after residents rallied to defeat a city plan to put a freeway down Carrall Street.
\nMany of the designated heritage structures in Chinatown are family association or benevolent society buildings, such as a four- storey structure at 104- 108 East Pender that was built for the Chinese Benevolent Society in 1909.
\nThis summer, the city introduced a $ 2.5 million grant program to help rehabilitate the dozen society- owned Chinatown buildings. But it probably won\u2019t go that far, because restoration costs can run in the millions.
\nA few years ago, restoration costs could be offset under the heritage density transfer program, where developers purchased \u201cair rights\u201d off owners of heritage buildings. The owners got money to restore the buildings, the developers got the right to add a floor or six to the highrises.
\nThe program proved very successful in Gastown, but the city was alarmed at developers building up banks of unused density, and canned the program.
\nRetired Vancouver planner Nathan Edelson said devising a heritage incentive program to rehabilitate Chinatown will be tricky.
\n\u201cThe heritage incentives that we had for Gastown worked well for companies that are selling condos, because they\u2019re selling a share of the building,\u201d said Edelson.
\n\u201cWhereas the incentives for family association ( buildings) need to be very different, because they want to keep their buildings, and keep them affordable. So it needs a different kind of incentive.\u201d
\nEdelson thinks the province and the federal government will probably have to put in money or incentives to properly restore Chinatown, which was declared a National Historic District in 2011.
\nThe National Historic District was limited to Pender Street between Carrall and Gore. This is bad news for the old buildings on Main, Keefer and Georgia, which could fall to redevelopment.
\nA converted house that may have dated to 1892 was recently torn down at 245 East Georgia for a nine- storey, 40- unit building, which is being built on a 25- foot wide lot.
\nIn the past, developers had to assemble several lots to build this high, but the city has relaxed the rules for part of Chinatown.
\nHeritage expert Don Luxton said this could doom many of the small buildings in the neighbourhood.
\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t even have to assemble, you can tear anything down,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe problem with that is there is going to be very little ways to preserve something that\u2019s on a smaller lot. It\u2019s just not going to survive.\u201d
\nCity planner Kevin McNaney said there have only been a couple of developments on 25- foot lots to date, including one on an empty lot.
\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t had a lot of development on those small orphan lots, which is why we created some guidelines to create those types of buildings where it\u2019s appropriate,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to monitor it to see if the plan is doing what we want it to do, and that\u2019s what council has asked us to do as well, to monitor and evaluate as we move ahead.\u201d
\nTwo old buildings that look to be goners are 730 Main, which was built in 1902- 3, and 796 Main, which dates to 1899.
\nThey are the last remnants of Hogan\u2019s Alley, a historic black neighbourhood that was recently commemorated on a stamp by Canada Post.
\nMany Vancouverites will know 730 Main as the longtime home of nightspots like Puccini\u2019s, Hogan\u2019s Alley and the Brickyard. McNaney said it used to be on Vancouver\u2019s heritage register, but was taken off in the 1990s.
\nBonnis Developments purchased 730 Main for $ 2.3 million last year, and paid $ 4.8 million for two empty lots next door.
\nNo transaction has been officially recorded for 796 Main, which was originally called Westminster House. A small building behind it was built as a cab stand in 1925, and has achieved international renown as a shrine to musician Jimi Hendrix, who spent part of his youth in neighbouring Strathcona.
\nDeveloper Kerry Bonnis said that he hasn\u2019t submitted a development proposal to the city just yet. But you can find a design for a new 15- storey, 148unit building at Union and Main on the Studio One Architecture website.
\nTosi\u2019s store at 624 Main isn\u2019t part of a redevelopment thus far, but could soon be. Angelo Tosi is 82, and will sell when the price is right.
\n\u201cFive years ago they offered me two and three- quarter million, a little less than $ 3 million for two lots,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe girl next door who owns the property says \u2018 Why don\u2019t we sell it as one, all together, instead of 50 ( feet) make it 75 feet and see if we can get more?\u2019 So they went up a half a million, and now they\u2019re squibbling and squabbling. We\u2019re just going step by step.\u201d
\nTosi\u2019s building was hooked up to the city\u2019s water supply in 1895, which makes it one of the oldest buildings in the city. The interior is virtually unchanged, with ancient fir shelves, marble counters and bare incandescent light bulbs that hang down from the 18- foot ceiling.
\nBut it isn\u2019t on Vancouver\u2019s heritage register.<\/p>\n
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