The Sam Kee Building, located at 8 West Pender Street in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is the "narrowest commercial building in the world" according to the Guinness Book of Records.[1]
Sam Kee Building at Carrall and Pender Streets in Vancouver1917 map showing the dimensions of the lot before and after expropriation. The remaining property is marked "BAL OF /".
The Sam Kee Company—originally owned by one of the wealthiest businessmen in Vancouver Chinatown, Chang Toy (also known as Sam Kee)—purchased the standard-sized lot in 1903. In 1912, however, Vancouver widened Pender Street and expropriated 24 feet (7.3 m) of the above-ground portion of the property—effectively (or so it was first believed) making conventional commercial use of the remaining frontage impractical, if not impossible. After Toy refused a neighbour's offer to buy the remaining land, someone bet him that he couldn’t use the land for anything. In 1913, the architects Brown and Gillam designed this narrow, steel-framed building. Its ground-floor depth (from storefront to rear of building) measures 4'11" (1.50 m), with a second-floor depth (from overhanging bay window to rear) of 6' (1.83 m). The basement extends beneath the sidewalk and originally housed public baths, while the ground floor was used for offices and shops and the top story for living quarters.[2]
Historical renovation of the building was designed by Soren Rasmussen and was completed in 1986.[3] It is a tourist attraction and an insurance office.
The building is considered the narrowest commercial building in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records and was formerly also viewed as such by Ripley's Believe it or Not!, but in recent years this status has been challenged by the "Skinny Building" in Pittsburgh.[4][5] The dispute centres around the fact that while the Sam Kee Building's width varies from floor to floor, and is 6 feet wide in places, Pittsburgh's "Skinny Building" is 5'2" (1.57 m) wide on all floors.
^"Chinatown Vancouver, B.C. Sam Kee building images pictures photographs tourism". www.seechinatown.com. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
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commercial buildings in the world, rivaling the SamKeeBuilding in Vancouver which is considered the narrowest by Guinness World Records. The Keebuilding is...
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Kee Federal Building, Bluefield, West Virginia Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (Wheeling, West Virginia, 1907) Robert C. Byrd Federal Building and...
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Rachel Myrow (March 30, 2019). "San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Housing and Suburban Resistance to Building More of It". kqed.org. Retrieved July 22, 2020...
Spanish language origin. In Spanish, it is spelled Quiñones. Sam Quinones (/kiˈnjoʊ.neɪs/ kee-NYOH-nayss;) is an American journalist from Los Angeles, California...
[citation needed] "Sam Gores, Chairman/CEO of Paradigm Talent Agency, on Leading Versus Bossing". Billboard. 11 August 2014. McKee, Ryan. "Top 10: Hollywood...
Teddy Hart as Casper Sam Levene as Lieutenant Abrams Penny Singleton as Polly Byrnes (credited as Dorothy McNulty) William Law as Lum Kee George Zucco as Dr...
three medical pioneers; Dato' Dr Lim Kee Jin (physician), Dato' Dr. T. Sachithanandan (anaesthetist) and Datuk Dr. Sam C.E.Abraham (paediatrician). The hospital...
in Punggol, Singapore within One Punggol, with a connecting bridge to SamKee LRT station and within walking distances of Punggol Temporary Bus Interchange...
Station Patuxent River. Narrated by Heather Couper, produced by Grant McKee, directed by Hamish Barbour, made by Ideal World and the Discovery Channel...
gone. Co Starring: Peter Mochrie (John 'Knocker' Harrison). Guest Stars: Kee Chan (Detective Derek Li), Richard Healy (Inspector Brady), Mai Xuan (Patrick...
Anne E. Wojcicki (/wuːˈtʃɪtski/ woo-CHITS-kee; born July 28, 1973) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded and is CEO of the personal genomics company...
Hai See & Hai Goh (These branches are often referred to as the Kai Kee Kak) The Hai Kee Kak are the largest branch of the See Tua Kak These branches then...
blueprints to know the building. 38 16 "Lethal Obsession" Kees van Oostrum Charles D. Holland April 4, 1998 (1998-04-04) Sam and the VCTF investigate...
This is a list of building or structure fires where a building or structure has caught fire. For major urban conflagrations, see List of town and city...
switch that blows up the whole building. Sam escapes with the hard drive while Mike and Fiona fake their deaths. Sam and Jesse later deliver the hard...
Brewster's Millions (Mike) Walter Hill Richard Pryor, John Candy, Lonette McKee 23 July 2022 Caddyshack (Elis) Harold Ramis Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield...
Lim Kee Noodle House (林記面家) G/F, 16 Ting Fu Street, Ngau Tau Kwok, Hong Kong Fusing Seafood Restaurant (正斗海鮮火鍋館) G/F, Hing Wah Commercial Building, 450-454...
Kowalczyk of Live, Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays, Richard Hell, and Maria McKee. It was accompanied by a tour with Napolitano as the vocalist. Byrne took...
shower got me the Job". redbulletin.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015. Chang, Kee (26 August 2014). "Q&A with Olly Alexander". Anthemmagazine.com. Retrieved...
family spent nine years in Attica for attempted extortion. Arohn Kee, serial killer Sam Melville, notorious as "mad bomber" in 1960s. He was among 30 prisoners...
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