Lim Sai Hor Association Building
| Lim Sai Hor Association Building | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
林西河總堂九牧公所大樓 | |||||||||||
 The front facade in 2024 | |||||||||||
| Lua error in Module:Infobox_mapframe at line 118: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Address | 525 Carrall Street | ||||||||||
| Town or city | Vancouver, British Columbia | ||||||||||
| Country | Canada | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 49°16′48.7″N 123°6′17.3″W / 49.280194°N 123.104806°WCoordinates: 49°16′48.7″N 123°6′17.3″W / 49.280194°N 123.104806°W Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. | ||||||||||
| Technical details | |||||||||||
| Floor count | 3 | ||||||||||
| Official name | Lim Sai Hor Association Building | ||||||||||
| Designated | January 14, 2003 | ||||||||||
| Reference no. | 2809 | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 林西河總堂九牧公所大樓 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 林西河总堂九牧公所大楼 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The Lim Sai Hor Association Building (Chinese: 林西河總堂九牧公所大樓) is a historic building in the Chinatown of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
History
The Lim Sai Hor Association Building stands prominently near the historic heart of Chinatown, hiding behind its doors a rich history of community-building and cultural heritage. Built in 1903, the building originally housed the Vancouver headquarters of the Chinese Empire Reform Association, a pro-constitutional monarchy organization active mostly outside of China. Despite its main objective, the Reform Association was remembered in Chinatown for its efforts to connect residents with their families and communities back in China. The Reform Association’s influence persisted, but was weakened, following the overthrow of the Chinese monarchy and foundation of the Republic of China in 1912. Two years later, in 1914, the prolific Chinese Canadian architect W. H. Chow redesigned the building’s Carrall Street frontage, giving it the unique, mix-style design it is known for today.
The building was eventually purchased and renovated by the Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association, a clan association (or family association), in 1945–46. The choice of an evergreen repaint reflected the meaning of the surname Lim (or Lin in Mandarin; from 林), which translates to "forest". The Lim Association’s goal was to transform the building into a meeting place of not only the Lims of Chinatown, but of the wider local community.
Functions
Like many heritage buildings in Chinatown, the Lim Sai Hor Association Building has seen mixed use since its inception, with the upper floors being used by a clan association to serve the local community and the ground floor being occupied by a successive number of businesses. A Chinese-language library, a general meeting room, a bathhouse, a Canada-to-China money transfer service, and a number of residential suites all once existed inside the Lim Sai Hor Association Building. The headquarters of the Vancouver Artists Labour Union Co-Operative are currently housed in the ground floor of the building.
References
This article "Lim Sai Hor Association Building" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Lim Sai Hor Association Building. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
