Vancouver
Downtown
4,291 addresses on 40 streets, in the 1940 city directory
Few in Downtown owned the house they lived in: the 1940 directory marks one in 20 of its households as owners, against half on the rest of the site's streets. Little of Downtown's 1940 is left to see: one in eleven of its addresses still has a building from before 1946, against one in three on the rest of the site's streets.
Who lived at each house is read on every street in 1940.
At work in 1940
The work the 1940 name section prints for the people it lists here, the most common first. Open one for some of the people who did it, each with their house.
Proprietor450
- Kaichiro Sawada205 Abbott Street
- Mrs Fusayo Furumoto58 Alexander Street
- Mrs Ida J Fishman773 Beatty Street
- Yoshishige Asano537 Burrard Street
- Mrs Annie H Moore644 Bute Street
And 445 more, each on their own house's page.
Logger295
- Carl M Montgomery787 Bute Street
- Isaac Hjeldnes681 Cambie Street
- William Paton529 Drake Street
- Oscar Johnson136 East Cordova Street
- Charles Breed926 Granville Street
And 290 more, each on their own house's page.
Salesman261
- R Fuller230 Abbott Street
- Borge Trip539 Burrard Street
- Alfred Huguet475 Bute Street
- Fred C Matheson691 Cambie Street
- James Martin621 Davie Street
And 256 more, each on their own house's page.
Clerk217
- J Cam Halliday523 Burrard Street
- Margaret Partridge475 Bute Street
- James Ritchie536 Drake Street
- Martin La Belle500 Dunsmuir Street
- James McArthur1035 Granville Street
And 212 more, each on their own house's page.
Laborer201
- James Gillespie921 Beach Avenue
- Alfred W Steer737 Beatty Street
- R Wilkinson1320 Burrard Street
- Lawrence Feldes433 Davie Street
- George V McWilliams936 Drake Street
And 196 more, each on their own house's page.
Waitress188
- Doris Nagle1237 Burrard Street
- Annie M Cook584 Cambie Street
- Loretta A Klontz676 Davie Street
- Bernice D Eddy809 Drake Street
- Lilian McMurtrie720 Hamilton Street
And 183 more, each on their own house's page.
Maid165
- Agnes Fuhr1041 Burrard Street
- Mrs Elizabeth Rice907 Davie Street
- Hazel K Brickwell1368 Hornby Street
- Philomene LaRiviere840 Nelson Street
- Waterston (no first name printed)369 West Cordova Street
And 160 more, each on their own house's page.
Waiter125
- John E Thornhill589 Burrard Street
- Joseph W Mangles787 Bute Street
- Leopold Zoller845 Davie Street
- John H Moore530 Drake Street
- Andrew Anderson1018 Granville Street
And 120 more, each on their own house's page.
Janitor123
- George Kidd529 Beatty Street
- Sid H Tuplin1352 Burrard Street
- James F Leadbetter160 Cambie Street
- Anthony R Houston536 Drake Street
- Herbert Cousins675 Dunsmuir Street
And 118 more, each on their own house's page.
Carpenter112
- Thomas M Fowler1217 Burrard Street
- John W Moffatt905 Davie Street
- Herbert D Fraser1035 Granville Street
- William Jarvis613 Hamilton Street
- John B Grigsby619 Homer Street
And 107 more, each on their own house's page.
Manager105
- Andrew T Harvie1011 Burrard Street
- Roger P Roberts601 Bute Street
- Mrs Marguerite A Burwell828 Dunsmuir Street
- Mow Yip51 East Pender Street
- Robert G Hunter823 Granville Street
And 100 more, each on their own house's page.
Saleswoman103
- Gloria M Allison1262 Burrard Street
- Lorraine L Keim848 Davie Street
- Lottie Lavoie536 Drake Street
- Florence Patterson828 Dunsmuir Street
- Laura T Farmer1039 Granville Street
And 98 more, each on their own house's page.
News agentmost of the people on the site's streets with this work lived here15
- William Bodnar1128 Granville Street
- Paul Michaelovitch369 West Cordova Street
And 13 more, each on their own house's page.
Laundrymost of the people on the site's streets with this work lived here14
- Chong Gee325 Cambie Street
- You Kong201 Carrall Street
- Foo Wong805 Davie Street
- Kee Sing447 Dunsmuir Street
- Wo Sam1242 Granville Street
And 9 more, each on their own house's page.
News vendormost of the people on the site's streets with this work lived here12
- George H Booth416 Robson Street
And 11 more, each on their own house's page.
40 people listed here in 1940 were on active service, in the forces.
Who they worked for
- CPR114
- Vancouver Hotel112
- St Paul's Hospital69
- Spencer's55
- Vancouver City45
- BC Electric Railway34
- Burrard Dry Dock33
- Hudson's Bay Company33
At home
206 of the 4,824 households the 1940 street section lists here carry its * (the directory's mark for a family member owning the house), against half on the rest of the site's streets. *: some member of the family owns the property, to the best of our knowledge (the directory's own mark, printed from 1935).
One in six of the people its name section lists here are householders (h); the rest live in someone else's house (r), as family, boarders or roomers. On the rest of the site's streets, half are householders.
Still standing
402 of the addresses here still have a building from before 1946; 325 were rebuilt later, and 3,564 are gone from the City's list. The oldest still up:
- 8 West Cordova Streetbuilt 1893
- 581 Richards Streetbuilt 1896
- 137 Water Streetbuilt 1898
- 139 Water Streetbuilt 1898
- 302 Water Streetbuilt 1898
- 321 Water Streetbuilt 1899
Years built are the City's assessment records, approximate for old buildings.
In the archives
Archive photos of its streets, then three of its blocks on Goad's 1912 fire insurance map, where the most still stands.
The streets
The 40 streets in Downtown on the site, A to Z.
- Abbott Street33 addresses, eight still standing1940
- Alexander Streetthe 0–100 blocks: 33 addresses, nine still standing1940
- Beach Avenuethe 800–900 blocks: 11 addresses1940
- Beatty Street49 addresses, nine still standing1940
- Burrard Streetthe 300–600 and 900–1400 blocks: 141 addresses, six still standing1940
- Bute Streetthe 400 and 600–700 blocks: 14 addresses, one still standing1940
- Cambie Street108 addresses, ten still standing1940
- Cardero Streetthe 500–600 blocks: 4 addresses1940
- Carrall Street72 addresses, 13 still standing1940
- Davie Streetthe 400–900 blocks: 81 addresses, two still standing1940
- Drake Street41 addresses1940
- Dunsmuir Street89 addresses, five still standing1940
- East Cordova Streetthe 0–100 blocks: 42 addresses, six still standing1940
- East Hastings Streetthe 0–100 blocks: 99 addresses, 20 still standing1940
- East Pender Streetthe 0–100 blocks: 102 addresses, 24 still standing1940
- Granville Streetthe 300–1500 and 1800 blocks: 452 addresses, 73 still standing1940
- Hamilton Street142 addresses, 13 still standing1940
- Helmcken Street78 addresses, four still standing1940
- Homer Street210 addresses, eleven still standing1940
- Hornby Street221 addresses, five still standing1940
- Howe Street285 addresses, ten still standing1940
- Jervis Streetthe 600 block: 3 addresses, one still standing1940
- Keefer Streetthe 100 block: 11 addresses, one still standing1940
- Main Streetthe 200 and 1200 blocks: 30 addresses, five still standing1940
- Mainland Street13 addresses, two still standing1940
- Melville Street56 addresses, two still standing1940
- Nelson Streetthe 400–900 blocks: 41 addresses1940
- Pacific Streetthe 500 and 700–900 blocks: 34 addresses1940
- Powell Streetthe 0–100 blocks: 47 addresses, eleven still standing1940
- Richards Street262 addresses, 15 still standing1940
- Robson Streetthe 0–900 blocks: 155 addresses, two still standing1940
- Seymour Street233 addresses, 19 still standing1940
- Smithe Street62 addresses, two still standing1940
- Thurlow Streetthe 400–600 blocks: 18 addresses1940
- Union Streetthe 100 block: 3 addresses1940
- Water Street86 addresses, 25 still standing1940
- West Cordova Street118 addresses, 14 still standing1940
- West Georgia Streetthe 100–900, 1100–1500 and 1900 blocks: 166 addresses, six still standing1940
- West Hastings Street301 addresses, 45 still standing1940
- West Pender Street345 addresses, 23 still standing1940
What the directory left out
The 1940 directory printed “Orientals” at 54 doors in Downtown instead of the residents' names. Its canvassers often didn't take down Chinese, Japanese and other residents' names, so the people at those doors can't be named or counted from it. Each door is on its street's page, as printed.
Next door
Fairview, Mount Pleasant, Strathcona and West End.