I’m not exactly sure when building codes were introduced in British Columbia, but I am reasonably confident Barkerville predates them by several decades at least.
And what is the result of a town built relatively free of regulation? Diversity of course! The buildings come on all shapes and sizes. For instance, all of the doorways in Barkerville’s Chinatown are very short. I hit my head more times than I can count. I’d speculate on why this is, but that would be politically incorrect, and politically incorrect is literally the worst thing you can be.
I would have gone through this very tall, skinny door to make myself feel better, but it was locked.