Photo: Darren Kirby Darren Kirby · CC BY-SA 2.0History around Metrotown: 16 designated places within 10 km
Only 5.8% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town. For the highest designations, the closest town is Strathcona, 8.7 km off.
Metrotown’s area holds 2 top-tier places within 10 km
At 7 km, Hastings Park in Hastings-Sunrise is the closest. They are spread over 5 towns, including Yaletown, Strathcona and Hastings-Sunrise. The mix: 12 provincial or municipal listings, 2 National Historic Sites and a heritage railway station.
The 12 nearest, within 10 km
| Hastings ParkProvincially Recognized Heritage Site · 1888 · 7 km away, in Hastings-Sunrise |
| Holy Trinity CathedralListed in a community heritage register · 1902 · 7.2 km away, in New Westminster |
| Bloedel ConservatoryListed in a community heritage register · 1969 · 8.4 km away, in Riley Park |
| Canadian National Railways / VIA Rail Station, Vancouver, British ColumbiaHeritage Railway Station · 1917–1918 · 8.7 km away, in Strathcona |
| Kuomintang BuildingHeritage designation · 9.1 km away, in Strathcona |
| Vancouver Japanese Language SchoolNational Historic Site · 1928–1929 · 9.2 km away, in Strathcona |
| Vancouver's ChinatownNational Historic Site · 1880–2003 · 9.2 km away, in Strathcona |
| Ovaltine CafeListed in a community heritage register · 1912 · 9.3 km away, in Strathcona |
| Carnegie Community CentreHeritage designation · 9.3 km away, in Yaletown |
| Pantages TheatreListed in a community heritage register · 1907 · 9.4 km away, in Yaletown |
| Sam Kee BuildingHeritage designation · 1913 · 9.6 km away, in Yaletown |
| Hotel EuropeHeritage designation · 1909 · 9.7 km away, in Yaletown |
From 1880 on: the dated places within 10 km of Metrotown
Each historic place within 10 km of Metrotown, outside its limits, by when its record says building began.
The oldest is Vancouver's Chinatown in Strathcona, from 1880. Within 10 km, 14 records give a date.
Metrotown is still building: 18% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
More than half of Metrotown’s housing predates 2001. The largest single period is from 1981 to 2000, with 33% of Metrotown’s homes. In Metrotown, 26% of homes date from 1961 to 1980, much as in most towns (27%).
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Metrotown and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metrotown | 36,594 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Garden Village | 6,492 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Royal Oak | 18,364 | 0 | 0 | — |
| South Slope | 8,989 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Collingwood | 18,399 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Killarney | 32,167 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Deer Lake | 8,417 | 0 | 0 | — |
Metrotown in brief
Little of its housing was standing by 1961: 5.8%, against 18% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: like most towns its size, it has no historic place.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
- Provincial and municipal lists. Only Wikidata gives open access to listings on provincial and municipal registers outside Québec; without an article such a place is counted but not paged.
- The tiers. National Historic Sites and the most protected buildings form the top tier; recognized federal buildings, stations and lighthouses the second; provincial and municipal listings the third.
- The grade. History isn’t one of Canada’s graded pillars, so this page describes and compares without a letter.
Questions about Metrotown’s history
How many historic places does Metrotown have on the registers?
Inside Metrotown, none so far; Hastings Park, 7 km away in Hastings-Sunrise, is the closest.
How old are the homes in Metrotown?
The 2021 Census dates 5.8% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Why might a heritage building in Metrotown be missing here?
Provincial and municipal registers outside Québec aren’t open data. Wikidata knows 4 more listings in Metrotown, but without an open description or an encyclopedia article they get no page.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).