Rainsford and Co. Warehouse

Gastown is the historic core of Vancouver, and is the city's earliest, most historic area of commercial buildings and warehouses. Designed and built in 1923 by the Dominion Construction Company for wholesale fruit and vegetable dealers, Rainsford and Co., this 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 expansion of Vancouver into western Canada's predominant commercial centre in the early twentieth century. As Vancouver prospered, warehouses were built on piles on infilled water lots between Water Street and the Canadian Pacific Railway trestle. The clear-span floor-plate of this warehouse is a clear indication of the extent and prosperity of wholesale trade during this period.

The Rainsford and Co. Warehouse is additionally valued for its associations with the Dominion Construction Company. Primarily known as one of the largest and most successful construction companies in Western Canada, Dominion Construction also had a long and varied history in the design of buildings through the employment of in-house architectural staff.