While visiting Vancouver BC last summer, my wife and I were able to get away (kids staying at the hotel with grandparents) and tour the beautiful city alone. One of the spots we had to visit was Chinatown, which happens to be the 2nd largest in all of North America. While walking through Chinatown on this misty day in July, we came upon one of my new favorite buildings, the Jack Chow Insurance office. I had to take some pictures of what is known as the “narrowest office building in the world”. This office building, built in the early part of the 20th century, is less than 6′ wide (1.8 meters or 70.86 inches). Check out the pictures I took below:
After coming home (obviously nearly 7 months later), I decided to do some research on this building. I also placed a call in to Jack Chow Insurance and spoke to a kind lady there that gave me some excellent information. The history of it dates back to the land being purchased in 1903 by the Sam Kee Company. Several years later, in 1912, as the lot purchased sat undeveloped, the City widened Pender Street in and expropriated 24 feet of the lot. In 1913, two architects designed this narrow, steel-framed building that is only 4′11″ at its ground floor base, and 6 feet at the second story bay windows. The basement extends under the sidewalk and originally housed public baths, while the ground floor was used for offices and shops and the top story for living quarters. It wasn’t until 1986 that Jack Chow paid to have the building rennovated for use as his second office for his insurance business.
This particular building is not far from one of the entrances to Chinatown as you’ll see here:
I certainly hope you enjoy reading and viewing what has to be one of the coolest office buildings in the world!
