Sam Kee Building

The Sam Kee Building, also known as the Jack Chow Building, is a two-storey commercial building in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located near the entrance to the city's Chinatown. It is noted for its narrow depth, which varies by floor. The ground floor is 4 ft wide, while the upper floor spans 6 ft because of its overhanging bay windows. Additionally, a basement extends under the sidewalk adjacent to the storefront. This discrepancy has led to a dispute with the Skinny Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, over which commercial building is more narrow, as the Skinny Building has a consistent depth of 5 ft. Nonetheless, the Sam Kee Building is recognized by Guinness World Records as the "narrowest commercial building in the world" and by Ripley's Believe It or Not! as the "world's thinnest building".

The building was constructed as a spite house in 1913, in defiance of Vancouver City Council's decision to expropriate without compensation a lot belonging to local business magnate Chang Toy, also known as "Sam Kee". Located at the corner of Carrall Street and Pender Street, the depth of the original lot was reduced from roughly 30 ft to 6 ft for the widening of Pender. After declining a neighbour's offer to purchase the remaining land, Chang bet a business associate that he could make commercial use of the land that remained. The Sam Kee Building was completed a year later, with a ground floor consisting of retail shops, an upper floor housing residential and organizational units, and a basement containing public baths.

Local businessman Jack Chow purchased the Sam Kee Building in 1985 and restored the property the following year. The building has since become a tourist attraction, although an insurance business still operates on the ground floor. It is considered a cultural heritage site by the municipal government and is listed in the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

Architecture


The Sam Kee Building is a steel-framed, two-storey building with an unusually narrow depth. Its ground-floor depth, from the storefront to the rear of the building, measures 4 ft. Its upper-floor depth is wider at 6 ft due to its overhanging bay windows, which were characteristic of many buildings in Chinatown at the time of its construction, in 1913. The building also has a basement which extends 10 ft under the sidewalk of Pender Street. The three floors are connected by glass staircases, which the municipal government disapproves of because they are a potential fire hazard.

Local historians have described the Sam Kee Building as a "spite house", a building constructed or modified to anger neighbours or other parties with a stake in the land the building is on. The municipal government charged the building's owner – the Sam Kee Company and later Jack Chow Insurance – annual encroachment fees for the airspace used by the protruding windows and the under-street area used by the basement. In 1998, when the fee for the windows was waived by Vancouver City Council, the fees were CA$260 for the windows and CA$2,500 for the basement. Rod Chow, son of Jack Chow, described the decision to waive the window fee as "the moral support of [city] council" being given to the building and the hopeful end of an "85-year feud".

Background and prelude
Vancouver's Chinatown was home to the largest Chinese community in Canada during the early 1900s, with 3,559 residents listed in the 1911 national census. The Asiatic Exclusion League, an all-European lobbyist group opposed to immigration from Asia to Canada and the United States, established a branch in Vancouver in 1907, with the goal of expelling Asians from the city. In 1912, the league successfully petitioned Vancouver City Council to widen Pender Street, the main street of Chinatown at the time, in order to render Chinese-owned properties unsuitable for commercial use. One such property, located at the corner of Carrall Street and Pender Street, was owned by the influential local businessman Chang Toy (陳才; 1857–1921), known in the European community as "Sam Kee" (三記).



Chang purchased the original, standard-sized lot for his primary business, the Sam Kee Company, in 1903. The original lot was a trapezoid measuring 30 x 88.71 x 30.94 x 96.04 ft. Its southern and eastern sides were slightly longer than its northern and western sides, respectively. By 1907, the Sam Kee Company had become one of the four main firms operating in Chinatown, running a lucrative import-export business which involved numerous investors from the European community.

In 1912, Vancouver City Council expropriated most of the lot without compensating Chang. The width of the lot was reduced from roughly 30 ft to 6 ft, making conventional commercial use of the remaining frontage impractical. However, Chang bet a business associate that he could nonetheless construct a building on what remained of his lot.

Construction and early years


In 1913, Chang hired architects Kennerly Bryan and William C. F. Gillam to design a building for his narrow lot. On March 27, 1913, a building permit was issued for a building "6.19 feet in width, 96.04 feet in length". The Sam Kee Building was completed later that year and reportedly cost CA$8,000.

For half a century, the Sam Kee Building saw mixed commercial-residential use. Retail shops were located on the ground floor, while the upper floor housed units for residential and organizational use. The basement contained a public baths.

Acquisition by Jack Chow
Local businessman Jack Wing Chow (周永職; 1930–2021) purchased the Sam Kee Building in 1985. He hired architect Soren Rasmussen to plan and design renovations to the building, which were completed in 1986. Chow later received numerous heritage awards for his restoration initiative.

In 1998, reinforced glass blocks were built into the sidewalk in front of the building, with the approval of Vancouver City Council. During nighttime, lights in the basement illuminate the sidewalk above, marking the entrance to Chinatown.

Current use
At present, the ground floor is used for insurance sales by Jack Chow Insurance, while the upper floor and basement are used primarily for tourism purposes. Most of the decorations and furniture inside the building are either "skinny or mini" to match the building's self-given title of "skinniest building in the world". Rod Chow, son of Jack Chow, offers guided tours of the building in addition to his insurance services.

In 2013, the building was given a million-dollar renovation. The project was financed by Jack Chow's retirement funds and a CA$100,000 grant from the municipal government.

A glass window wicket was installed in 2016, allowing customers to be served on the sidewalk in front of the building and doubling the building's business capacity.

Recognition


The Sam Kee Building holds the Guinness World Record for "the narrowest commercial building in the world". Ripley's Believe it or Not!, meanwhile, recognizes it as the "world's thinnest building". The ownership of these titles has been challenged by the owners of the Skinny Building in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The Skinny Building has a depth of 5 ft on all its floors, while the depth of the Sam Kee Building varies by floor, with the lower floor's depth measuring 4 ft but the upper floor's measuring 6 ft.

The municipal government formally recognized the Sam Kee Building as a cultural heritage site on January 14, 2003. It is listed number 2814 in the Canadian Register of Historic Places. Vancouver City Council's Chinatown Legacy Stewardship Group described the Sam Kee Building as a "key part of Chinatown's cultural heritage" and Jack Chow Insurance as a "legacy business".

The Sam Kee Building was one of two winners of the People's Choice Award for the 2017 Vancouver Heritage Awards, the other being the Mah Society Building. The award's description of the Sam Kee Building is as follows:

"Fully restored and revitalized, the thinnest building in the world, and a Chinatown landmark and architectural marvel, its rehabilitation was part of the celebration of its centennial. This included its distinctive gold embellished columns, the prominent '1913' on its parapet, its continuous bay-windows, its block-long illuminated glass sidewalk, and iconic twinkling neon sign for the public to enjoy."