Bing Kee Laundry, Smith St., Regina

Title

Bing Kee Laundry, Smith St., Regina

Medium

Painting - watercolour on paper

Description

Two people are shown walking past a two storey house which bears the sign 'Bing Kee Laundry.' A dog can be seen to the left of the couple.

Year

1944

Theme

Regina 1940s

Archives Control Number

Regina Artworks 1944-1

Photo Credit

Jason Cawood

Exhibition

At the Archway

Selected by

Joseph Aldred

Exhibition Description

This work showcases a historical local business of Regina, Bing Kee Laundry, located somewhere on Smith Street. While no address is given, exploring the street shows no currently existing house similar enough to the one depicted, meaning this house has likely been torn down and replaced. With there being no modern records of this business, the only possible references would be in advertisements from the newspapers around the time, although, as of now, no specific reference has been found. For now, this watercolour depiction could be the only surviving record of this local business of 1940s Regina.

Why This Piece Was Chosen

Not only did I find the work visually pleasing, but the thought of finding and seeing this building intrigued me. My process for finding out if this house still existed was rather simple: explore Smith Street and see which houses are most visually similar, and bring that list back to my mother, who works in real estate. The only house that is remotely comparable (2337) is an unlikely candidate due to it most certainly having a basement, unlike the house depicted in this watercolour. I also tried looking through newspapers of the time to find anything, but out of the dozens I viewed, nothing has yet turned up. While the search brought up nothing, this picture still serves as both historical documentation and beautiful artwork.