The elevator at 1009 Expo Blvd in Vancouver goes directly
from the 12th floor to the 15th. The omission of the 13th caters to Western
superstitions. The absent 14th acknowledges an Eastern anxiety. The numeral
four sounds in Mandarin and Cantonese like the word for death. Fourteen sounds
like “certain death”; 24 is “easy death”. 1009 Expo is missing the fourth, 24th
and 34th floors as well.
Developers in Vancouver have been building four-free
apartment blocks for a decade to attract Chinese buyers, among the biggest
customers for luxury condominiums and a prime cause of a boom in property
prices. The city will not change street names but is relaxed about house
numbers: 224 can become 223B.
However, emergency services argue that it is the numeral’s
absence that is lethal. The omission of a 14th floor can confuse firefighters,
who often take the elevator to a level below a reported fire and walk up. The
consequences could be dire, warns Jonathan Gormick, a fire-department captain
in Vancouver, though he cannot point to a disaster in real life.
The city of Vancouver agreed. In October it banned
non-sequential numbering schemes. Existing buildings can remain four-less but
new ones cannot skip numbers. Chinese buyers will normally accept an unluckily
numbered unit for a discount, but property developers fear that the new rule
will depress prices. No one can accuse the city of cultural discrimination:
tall buildings will have to have a 13th floor as well.
