I. Boarding and Row Houses

Category: Sites from the 'Labour, Work and Working People' booklet

Constructed in 1907, these buildings housed working men and women. Early in the city’s history, speculators kept large tracts of land off the market to keep prices high. By 1911, house prices were 60 – 150% higher than homes in Winnipeg and Toronto. Rents were 30 – 70% higher. Private ownerships of utilities in Vancouver also meant that a weekly family budget for food, fuel, and lighting in 1912 was more expensive than any other city in Canada. Residents preferred to call BC Electric Co. “Collectric”.

The 1918 Vancouver Directory lists a BC Telephone Co. Service operator as the resident of 602 Jackson Avenue. It also lists the residents of the Parkdale Apartments at 27 Jackson Avenue as a CPR cook, a labourer, a widow and “foreigners.” The Strathcona neighbourhood was 48% Chinese by 1959. Chinese homeowners formed the Chinatown Property Owners Association ( CPOA) when they discovered that a proposed redevelopment project meant the demolition of their homes and relocation to high-density public housing. Despite their resistance, the government bought and expropriated land and displaced residents. The CPOA allied with the Strathcona Property Owners and Tenants Association and in 1969 were able to prevent the destruction of their neighbourhood ( see site L). The growing public concern for preservation of Vancouver’s heritage also led to the establishment of the Chinatown Historic Area District in 1974.