VICTORIA, British Columbia—The renovation of one of Victoria’s oldest hotels has brought to life the history of its original owner, a civil rights activist and well-connected businessman who fought for the rights of the city’s early Chinese settlers.
Lim Bang was born in 1880 on Vancouver Island to parents of Chinese descent. In his lifetime, he got rid of segregation in Victoria’s schools and built and owned several businesses in the province including a rice factory, a brick plant, general stores, and greenhouses.
He also built a heritage building at the corner of Pandora and Douglas that, now fully renovated, will celebrate its grand re-opening as the Hotel Rialto on June 23.
A champion of democracy in China, Mr. Lim was a key financial supporter and strategizer at the highest levels of the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party. While remaining in Canada, he aided the overthrow of the last Chinese dynasty and supported Dr. Sun Yat-Sen to become the country’s first president.
It was only in early 2009 that the hotel’s owners, Danilo and Jane Danzo, learned that its founder had left behind such an extraordinary legacy.
“I didn’t really know all the history until my husband decided to totally renovate the building. It was extremely serendipitous,” Mrs. Danzo said.
Around the time he built the hotel, Mr. Lim was also the manager of the Bank of B.C., the first person of Chinese origin to manage a bank in Canada.
Fred Yuen, a close family friend, said Mr. Lim “was one of the forward thinking people at the time, I would imagine beyond the concept of what a person could do at that particular period. He was one of the first to own an automobile in Victoria. He showed me his driver’s license number. It was # 4 for all of B.C.”
