Introduction to South Cambie

This area is Vancouver's smallest community because of its size and population. It is known for its numerous medical facilities including Shaughnessy Hospital, BC Women's Hospital, Health Centre and BC Children's Hospital.

Douglas Park, which is the site of South Cambie's community centre, was a logging camp and later a market garden in the early 1900s. In 1940, Queen Elizabeth Park was transformed from an open pit mine. Little Mountain is the highest point in Vancouver, where a 360-degree view of the entire city can be seen.

History & Heritage

South Cambie received its name from Henry Cambie, a Canadian Pacific Railway engineer. It was once home to oxen, loggers, ranchers and Chinese vegetable gardeners. Its highest area is Little Mountain, known as Queen Elizabeth Park today, where a 360-degree view of the city can be seen. Its first non-native settler was a logger and gold miner, William Mackie. In 1874, he owned 65 hectares, an area known today as Douglas Park. The following year, a road to Little Mountain was built to provide an access way to the lumber on it on Little Mountain. Douglas Park was an oxen pasture and then became a small milk ranch. In 1910, as more houses were being built, the land was used for Chinese vegetable farming. Then in 1926, the land became Douglas Park.

The area north of King Edward developed in the boom years. In 1926, houses surrounded Douglas Park. The last untouched land was north of 41st Avenue and was an army barrack during the war. It was later allowed for development by the federal government.

South Cambie's heritage is mostly placed in the oldest part of the community, the northern portion bounded by 17th Avenue, 24th Avenue, Cambie Street and Oak Street. Many Craftsman-style heritage homes, built from the 1918s and 1920s exist there. Other buildings include Edith Cavell School and the Fairmont Academy on Heather Street, built in 1912, is a tudor-style building. It was used as the Langara private school for boys and is now occupied by the RCMP as a training facility. Some Moderne buildings in South Cambie can be included such as the Jean Matheson Pavilion and Shaughnessy Hospital's main building.