City Architecture

This post is part of a new series on posts about my city, the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. This particular post is intended to show you some of the city's varied architecture. It is not a post on describing the architecture as I am no architect or student of architecture. I simply like looking at different structures and buildings and I'm using the building as a jump off point to tell you a little more about my city. I hope you enjoy the little tour. In future and as weather improves, I hope to show you a lot more of our city's natural wonders so do drop by often.

Last week, I posted about the neighbourhood of Gastown. At the west side of Gastown is the Harbour Centre which houses the Vancouver Lookout. As the name suggests, here you can look out over the city and take in the 360 degree view. I haven't been to the Lookout for many years but when I first moved to the city it was one of the first places I went and the view was simply spectacular though the sky line has now changed considerably. The tower below the Lookout is home to 28 floors of business offices and to the satellite location of the Simon Fraser University whose main campus in located in Burnaby, BC. The Vancouver Lookout was opened in 1977 by the Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to walk on the moon.

To get to the Lookout, you will enter a glass encased elevator which will whisk you to the top in record time. So don't blink! Your entry fee is good for the entire day so you can leave to go and shop in Gastown next door, have a meal and return. You can also sit in the Lookout lounge and enjoy a refreshment.

The Harbour Centre and Vancouver Lookout is located just steps to the west of Gastown. See photo below and read all about it in my post here.

The Harbour Centre Lookout is also located right in front of the main station for the sky train which is the hub for the City's Light Rapid Transit. The Waterfront station is the connection point for the West Coast express (commuter train to points east), the Sea Bus (city transport over the water to the North Shore), and the 3 different sky train lines which take you to many different points in the city and to the outlying municipalities. You can read more about the schedules for each of these transportation options here.


Burrard Station is the last sky train stop before you get to the Waterfront and make connections to points elsewhere. Alternatively it is the first stop after you leave Waterfront sky train travelling to points east. Burrard Station is also a bus connection hub. Many of the buildings you see behind the station are at least 50 years old and seem to be in what I refer to as the "blah" style.

The building below is St. Paul's Hospital and is located in downtown Vancouver. It was established in 1892 by the Sisters of Providence though the sisters no longer run the hospital. This is where my cousin's daughter has been staying all week recovering from major heart surgery.

Burrard Inn, formerly Bosman's Inn, is a smallish hotel with 71 rooms and suites and has recently undergone renovations. It is the only hotel I am aware of which is in the downtown core and has reasonable rates. The rooms are $65. (Canadian) for double room from September-May and goes up to $99. Canadian from May-September. This is a favourite place for my relatives to stay when they have to come to the city for medical reasons since it is across from the St. Paul's hospital. These rooms and many others in the city are completely sold out for the Winter Olympics which will begin very soon.

Vancouver Hotel (below) is now part of the Fairmont group hotels. If my memory serves me correctly, it used to be part of the Canadian National group Hotels but hasn't been for some time. In recent years this hotel it has completed an extensive 65 million dollar renovation. The results are stunning. You can see some of the beauty in these photos here. Don't you just love the roof of this building? In olden days, you could go to a club at the top of the hotel and listen to jazz.

The next three photos show the relatively new Sheraton Wall Centre. One of the buildings is called One Wall Center and is the second highest building in the city. Designed by Busby, Perkins and Will, it won an award in 2001, its year of completion for the Best Skyscraper. apparently, it has something called a tuned water damping system at the top of the building to counter act the swaying of the building.
The first two photos above were taken last week and the photo below was taken last summer. The sky scraper is quite aesthetically pleasing in a long view, don't you think?

The building below is St. Andrew's Wesley United Church. This is one of the United Churches that recognizes and embraces the gay and lesbian community. They also have a number of broad based programs to invite the community in to their sanctuary. One of them is Jazz Vespers every Sunday afternoon. I simply love the carved stone in the building and the archways of the windows and doorways.

That is the tour for today. There is so much more to share but we will need to do it in stages. Some days I may have themes as in today where I showed you numerous structures. Other days, it may be about one specific site or a natural scene of beauty. I hope you will join me again soon.