Illustrated Vancouver, Proposed pagoda for Pender Street, from the...

Proposed pagoda for Pender Street, from the October 1968 issue of Canadian Architect. In a 1969 article from the Calgary Herald, ‘Corny’ Architecture Rapped at Meeting, it mentions that Vancouver is importing a genuine pagoda from the Orient, to be used as a pagoda; I presume this is the pagoda they are are referring to. Instead of the extravagant pagoda seen here, the city would eventually get the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, which was built in 1985 and completed just in time for Expo 86. I for one am glad we got the garden over the pagoda; in this particular location, the pagoda seems clearly out of proportion to the street and surrounding buildings. One final detail to note; as you can see in the second photograph, Pender Street was once a one-way street heading west at this junction.