When this picture was taken, around 1900, this was addressed as 427 Princess Avenue, (it only became Pender in 1907) and the picture shows Mrs. Delia Gore and some of her family at the front entrance of their house. Mrs. Gore was head of the household, and aged 43 when the picture was taken. She was American, and in 1891 was living with her five US-born children aged 22 to 15, and two much younger; four-year old Georgie and two-year-old Jessie, both born in BC. The four oldest children had jobs; one was a marine engineer, her daughter was a seamstress and the youngest was an apprentice.
The street directory tells us Mrs. Gore was the widow of J M Gore, who shows up for the first time at this address in 1898 when he was listed as a hostler; a stablehand who looks after the horses at an inn. A year earlier there was a James M Gore living on 9th Avenue (Broadway today) who was a druggist. The 1901 census tells us that Mrs. Gore had arrived in Canada in 1894. The house appears to date back to around 1889,
By 1899 Mr. Gore had died; only Mrs. Gore was listed. The ‘Daily World’ of May 3rd reported the death “At noon to-day, James Gore, a well-known resident of the East End died at the City hospital. The deceased was injured at the time of General Booth’s visit to Vancouver and was walking in the Salvation Army parade when he was kicked in the stomach by a horse. He has been in the hospital ever since.” This turned out to be an inaccurate report. Perhaps ‘death by horse’ was as common an occurrence as fatal car accidents. The May 4th newspaper corrected the news. “James Gore, who died at the City hospital yesterday, was not the gentleman injured in the General Booth parade, as stated in last evening’s World. Prior to removing to the East End, Mr. Gore was manager of the Great West Stock Yards, and, with his family, resided for some time at Central Park, and was kicked by a horse on Lulu Island on Saturday April 23rd, which resulted in his death at noon yesterday”.
On May 5th they reported “The funeral of the late James Gore was held to-day. The cortege left the family residence on Princess street at 5 o’clock this morning and the remains were interred this afternoon at Blaine, Wash., under the auspices of the Knights of Pythias. Rev. J. Irvine was the officiating minister and he accompanied the remains to Blaine”.
Mrs. Gore stayed in the city for a few years, but moved to Keefer Street. It’s likely that she returned to the United States, settling in Washington state, where she was apparently living with her son in 1930, and in 1940, aged 83, with her daughter Ruby. Ruby died, having returned to Vancouver, in 1949. Her death certificate tells us that her mother had been Delia Taylor before she married James Gore. They had married in Oregon in 1876, when James was 20 and Delia was 18.
Today the house is the home of the Hoy Ying Association, a Chinese benevolent association active in the city for at least 100 years. Their early records were rescued by historian Paul Yee when their earlier building was demolished, and are now in the City Archives. The biggest difference between 1900 and 2017 is the street level. The areas’s streets were regraded in the early 1900s, leaving some homes as much as 15 feet below the new street level, and others, like this one, a full storey above the street. The former basement was at some time turned into a basement suite.
Image source: City of Vancouver Archives CVA 371-891
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Changing Vancouver 