Sam Kee Building

Sam Kee Building Review

Ripley's Believe It or Not! recognizes this 6-foot-wide structure as the narrowest office building in the world. In 1913, after the city confiscated most of the then-owner's land to widen Pender Street, he built a store on what was left, in protest. Customers had to be served through the windows. These days the building houses an insurance agency, whose employees make do within the 4-foot-10-inch-wide interior. The glass panes in the sidewalk on Pender Street once provided light for Chinatown's public baths, which, in the early 20th century, were in the basement here. The presence of this and other underground sites has fueled rumors that Chinatown and Gastown were connected by tunnels, enabling residents of the latter to anonymously enjoy the vices of the former. No such tunnels have been found, however.