Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (Vancouver)

Canada / British Columbia / Vancouver / West Georgia Street, 900
 hotel, skyscraper

900 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2W6, Canada
(604) 684-3131
www.fairmont.com/hotelvancouver

The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is located on West Georgia Street and Burrard Street in the heart of Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Constructed by Canadian National Hotels, it stands at 111 meters (363 ft) and 17 floors and has 556 guest rooms and suites. Its architects were John S. Archibald and John Schofield. It stood as Vancouver's tallest building from 1939 until 1972, when the Toronto Dominion Tower was built. It is often referred to by locals simply as the "Hotel Van". It became part of the Canadian Pacific Hotels chain after that company purchased CN Hotels in 1988. CP Hotels was later renamed to Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

The building's distinctive green roof is made of oxidised copper. The exterior has carvings of mythological figures such as griffins and flying horses, and parapets embellished with Gothic gargoyles with the interior mainly mahogany, brass and crystal.

The building is the third hotel to be named "Hotel Vancouver". The first Hotel Vancouver was open from 1887 to 1916. The Second Hotel Vancouver was built in 1916, became a troop barracks during World War II, and was finally torn down in 1949 to fulfill a commitment made by the city with the developers of the third Hotel Vancouver to demolish it, as the new hotel's design was not as lavish and impressive, and the older hotel was perceived to too much of a potential rival. The first two Hotel Vancouvers were between Howe and Granville Streets on the south side of West Georgia Street. The current building, located a block away across the fountain plaza of the then-provincial courthouse and on the same side of Georgia, opened in May 25, 1939 for the royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The hotel was constructed for 11 years with no work performed at all for five years during the Great Depression. The hotel was originally to be named the Hotel British Columbia. It was started by the Canadian National Railway but was finally completed under a joint operating agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway. The final cost of construction was C$12,000,000. The hotel was fully renovated in 1989 and again in 1999 for a cost of $70,000,000.

Until the opening of the CBC Regional Broadcast Centre in 1974, the offices and broadcast studios of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Vancouver Bureau were on the mezzanine floor of the hotel, overlooking the corner of Hornby and Georgia. A large art deco soundstage used for radio theatre and musical broadcasts was located on the ground floor, with an entrance off Hornby Street.

It was here, in the Panorama Roof Ballroom, that Dal Richards began his career that spans decades. On May 1, 1940 young Dal Richards, his 11-piece band and a then-unknown 13-year-old Juliette were booked to replace Mart Kenney and His Western Gentlemen, Canada's leading dance band at the time. No-one could have known that Dal's initial six-week contract would stretch into 25 years of regular performances and broadcasts at "The Roof". A weekly CBC Radio show was broadcast nationally from the Panorama Roof Ballroom of the Hotel Vancouver for many years.
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Coordinates:   49°17'1"N   123°7'15"W
This article was last modified 4 months ago