Heritage Inventory:  none.
Heritage Designation:  none.
Why Endangered:  Inertia.

This is the only site to be included in this list without a building.  Heritage, of course, is not just about structures, but about history, and some sites are preserved because they are rich in history.  Sadly, precious little has been done to recognize the contribution of a part of the city’s pioneer community, that of the Chinese. At 825 Agnes Street/825 Victoria Street sits an empty lot that was donated to the city in 1979. 

The donation consisted of what was known as the Chinese Old Man’s Home, the home of New Westminster’s Chinese Benevolent Association.  The abandoned building “crouched inside a grove of wild bamboo and sweet pea.”  The site served for generations as the civic centre of Chinatown, home at various times to a Chinese school, a Chinese hospital, a home for the elderly, and as the home of the Chinese Benevolent Association.  The city demolished the building within a few months – and the lot has sat empty, owned by the city, ever since.

Nearby to the site was the Chinese Methodist Church, the Chinese Freemasons, and thousands of Chinese concentrated largely in an area bordered roughly by Eighth Street to Twelfth Street, and Front Street to Royal Avenue.

The Chinese were a part of the city from the beginning, arriving with other gold seekers, and by 1860 a large number of Chinese lived in the city.  Most were migratory labourers, but by 1861 several businesses had been established, and 1865 saw the first birth of a Chinese person in the city.  For decades, New Westminster was the first port of arrival on the mainland. 

By 1884, 1,680 residents of the city were Chinese, as opposed to only 100 Chinese in Granville (Vancouver).  The extension of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1886 was achieved largely by Chinese labourers.  In 1898, the predominantly Chinese areas of New Westminster burned in the city’s Great Fire.  The Chinese Hospital was built in 1905, and was one of the oldest buildings in the Downtown area when it was demolished.  The site became a crucial center for the Chinese residents of the Royal City. In 1991, the city considered the small step of renaming one of the city’s streets to recognize the contribution of the Chinese, but no action was taken on the proposal. Although the site has not been considered for a possible arts centre, it has been considered as a possible dog park, or as a potential development site through sale of the property by the city. 

The historic site remains completely empty, the last publicly owned property in the middle of the old Chinese district, awaiting the opportunity to be used in the spirit in which the site was given to the city.  The city’s heritage is in fact multicultural, and this important site ought to be designated and preserved with its own history in mind and a suitable memorial to the contribution of thousands of citizens from the earliest days. 

The 25th anniversary of the donation of this site to the city by the remaining directors of the Chinese Benevolent Association passed by this Summer, the site remaining empty, but its history not yet forgotten.  There’s still time to properly receive and cherish this gift, despite the demolition of the former building.