Until a few years ago, Yaletown, the warehouse district in Vancouver’s Downtown South area, was relatively unknown to most Vancouverites. Now with its mixture of art galleries, boutique shops, restaurants, offices and new residential developments, Yaletown has become a vital part of the city.
In Yaletown, you can still see early rooming houses, late 19th-century warehouses and some surviving single-family homes. This tour will introduce you to the area’s history and point out buildings of special historical and architectural interest.
The entire tour will take about 1 hour beginning on Mainland and Davie Street, right next to the train stop. If possible, walk the tour during business hours so that you see the interiors of commercial buildings and appreciate the interesting mixture of old and new Yaletown establishments.
The Yaletown BIA has furnished the walking route with innovative new benches created from reclaimed lumber and designed to hint at Yaletown’s past railway heritage. Recently, the Yaletown BIA introduced new Yaletown History Board signage along the sidewalk to further add interest along the route.
