Prince Rupert Meat Company Building

Gastown is the historic core of Vancouver, and is the city's earliest, most historic area of commercial buildings and warehouses. Built in 1912 for a meat packing firm, the Prince Rupert Meat Company Building is representative of the importance of Gastown as the trans-shipment point between the terminus of the railway and Pacific shipping routes, and the consequent development of centralized food distribution networks for the expanding population.

The Prince Rupert Meat Company Building is valued as an unusual example of a warehouse building from the pre-World War One era. Its exceptional height on a very narrow lot is an indication of the pressure to build at a high density on this prime location near the rail lines. As Vancouver prospered, substantial warehouses were built on piles on infilled water lots between Water Street and the Canadian Pacific Railway trestle. The massive cubic form, high density, large clear-span floor-plate and notable height of this structure pushed the limits of building technology, and are a clear indication of the extent and prosperity of wholesale trade during this period.