Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tp://vancouverchinesegarden.com
,
9:30am-7pm daily in summer, 10am-4:30pm daily the
rest of the year, adult $14, senior $11, student $10), behind the Chinese Cultural Centre.
Designed by artisans from Suzhou, China—a city famous for its green-thumbed resid-
ents—thegardenfeatureslimestonerockeries,awaterfallandtranquilpools,andbeautiful
trees and plants hidden away behind tall walls. The garden is styled around Taoist tradi-
tions of balance and harmony, achieved through the use of buildings, rocks, plants, and
water. The buildings and other artificially-constructed elements, including wood carvings
and sculptures, were shipped from China. This was the first authentic classical Chinese
garden built outside China, and it remains to this day the largest. Worth your while are the
tours (free with admission) conducted up to eight times daily. During summer, Enchanted
Evenings held on the first Friday of each month give visitors a chance to tour the gardens
and taste teas from around the world. Adjacent to the gardens is
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park,
where admission is free.
Sam Kee Building
Chinatown grew around the intersection of Pender and Carrall Streets, and although time
has seen the heart of the neighborhood move eastward, it's worth wandering down the hill
and around the original area. Opposite the entrance to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese
Garden is the
Sam Kee Building
(8 W. Pender St., corner of Carrall St.), best known as
the world's narrowest office building. When city developers widened surrounding streets
in 1912, the Chinese consortium that owned the lot decided to proceed with its planned
building, just making it narrower than at first planned. The result is a building 1.8 meters
(approximately6feet)wide,notedinthe
Guinness Book of World Records
asthe“narrow-
est building in the world.”
In the mid-1880s, land was set aside on the north side of False Creek for the Canadian
Pacific Railway (CPR) to build engine yards, thus moving existing facilities from Yale,
along the Fraser River Canyon. The area quickly became a hive of activity. Canvas camps
set up by the original work gangs were slowly replaced by semipermanent structures, with
the CPR providing shacks for married men and a barge moored in False Creek for single
men. Although separated from downtown by total wilderness, other businesses sprang up.
Centered around the Yale Hotel on the corner of Granville and Drake Streets, they served
workers and helped create Vancouver's first official suburb.
