Description of Historic Place

The historic place at 80 East Pender Street is a Victorian Italianate two-storey brick building incorporating a store with accommodation above, on the south side of East Pender Street, the 'main street' of Vancouver's Chinatown.

Heritage Value

The building at 80 East Pender Street has value as a good example of the Victorian Italianate commercial style, unusual to Vancouver. The bay windows (restored in 1989), surmounted by concentric brick arches and perforated gables, show a high level of craftsmanship. The façade is representative of the variety of styles adopted for commercial buildings in the years around 1900.

Constructed in 1911 as a house with associated storage, the building also has value for its association with the American-owned Great Northern Railway. Its use after 1913 by the Great Northern Transfer Company reflects the development of the adjacent lots to the east by the GNR as the depot for its Vancouver line.

The presence of this building and its transportation-related tenant reflects the adjacent industrial uses and the marginality of Chinatown. It also speaks to the heterogeneous nature of the neighbourhood, which was predominantly, but not exclusively, Chinese.

Source: City of Vancouver Heritage Conservation Program

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of 80 East Pender Street include:
- Location on south side of Pender Street
- Lone architectural set-piece in a much modernized block
- Metal cornice shaped to suggest gables
- Pierced (perforated) parapet below the gables
- Articulated, concentric brick arches and pierced spandrels above the bay windows and the doors
- Decorative guilloche band
- Bay windows
- Label moulding over the storefront
- Symmetry of the facade, enhanced by the side doors
- Moulded brick panels beside the side doors