Two+ days of great architecture and food in Vancouver
We had no real plans for our trip to Vancouver other than medical visits and a couple of dinners Cathy had booked, but photographing Vancouver’s great architecture can keep me amused for many days. We had two part days and two full ones in the city this time.
I said in my last post that we took a taxi into town when we arrived on Tuesday, July 7th, and were soon settled in our hotel room. That’s not quite true, though. Cathy and and one of my grand-daughters who lives about an hour and a half away had hatched a scheme to surprise me, and it worked extremely well. As we were supposedly waiting in the hotel lobby for our room to be ready, Kaitlyn walked in. I glanced up, didn’t recognize her and went back to my phone, but only for a second. It was wonderful to see her after far too long. The 3 of us went for lunch at the Cactus Club, then Kaitlyn and I went for a very long walk along the harbour.
The first photo was shot the night of our arrival at 9:00 pm. The historic Hotel Georgia is seen from one of the windows in our corner room (#723) in the even more historic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
Swinging the camera a bit to the right got the reflection of our hotel and the setting sun in the windows of the TD Bank Tower.
Another shot of the Hotel Georgia at 10:25 that night.
On Wednesday morning we called for room service breakfast because we didn’t feel like trying to find a restaurant we could walk to. With a $76 price tag, we only did that the once.
Our north window looked onto Cathedral Place. Many offices were empty, and we rarely saw anyone in the offices that had furniture in them. Perhaps working from home because of COVID-19 has caught on as a permanent change.
The sign on the roof of this taco truck below our roof sent me to Google. Apparently I’m not the only one confused about how “Mexico is the shit” could possibly be a good thing to say – see this article in Mexico News Daily.
At 10:30, the Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza and front stairs were still quiet.
At 2:00, a Farmers Market opened on the plaza. I went down hoping to get some peaches, but all the vendors were only selling by the small box, and I only wanted a couple.
I did a bit of photography-wandering Wednesday afternoon. The 21-foot-diameter clock on the Vancouver Block caught my attention from a few angles. The building was constructed between 1910 and 1912 on the highest point of land in downtown Vancouver.
A look at the Hotel Georgia sign from street level.
I walked a few blocks to the Saje store on Robson Street to stock up on some of their products, and the building they’re in became a photo subject as well.
Wednesday evening, we went to The Italian Kitchen for dinner. The next photos show Cathy’s Dungeness crab stuffed salmon, and my tiramisu dessert. Our waiter there was quite exceptional, as was the food. It’s worth going Outside for an experience like this.
Our room on Thursday morning after the cleaner had tidied up. We seem to have gotten out of practice regarding travel. By accident we found a coffee maker in the cabinet the TV sits on, and after Cathy had called the front desk for some coffee for it, found that in the drawer below 🙂
It was quite a walk from our room to the elevators.
Few artifacts from the original hotel remain, but the brass mail drop is still at the end of the hall.
A couple of shots of the hotel from street level.
A panorama created from 2 vertical images, showing the Hotel Vancouver and Cathedral Place.
Cathedral Place, completed in 1991 at a cost of $44 million, addressed the architectural heritage of its site,, and in doing so, it won the support of a City Council that was under intense pressure to stop the project, according to the architectural firm that designed it, Merrick.
“Ornamental components of the original Medical Dental Building have been reinstated into the facade of the new structure giving rebirth to a part of Vancouver’s heritage,” says Merrick.
Another look at the Vancouver Block clock.
The Hunter Brothers Block, built in 1892, is one of the last survivors of the original Granville Street buildings. It was designed in the common commercial architectural style of the time, Victorian Italianate.
“A laneway reimagined – Alley-Oop,” it says, inviting people to play there.
The Birks clock and a homeless person sleeping, with the Sinclair Centre behind.
Concrete detailing under the ground floor windows on the Granville Street side of the Sinclair Centre.
At the corner of Granville and Cordova, a 30-storey office tower designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and Chris Dikeakos Architects for Bosa Development is going up.
My favourite building in Vancouver, the Marine Building, gets more and more hidden as the years go on. Opened in October 1930, it was once one of the most visible structures in downtown Vancouver.
The Vancouver Stock Exchange building, opened in 1929, is now the EXchange Hotel.
“Spanning Time,” a mosaic designed in 2006 by Bruce Walther, is located at the southwest corner of West Georgia and Howe streets. CommunityWalk.com says: “The Lion’s Gate Bridge at the mouth of the Burrard Inlet has long been a Vancouver icon, and has often been likened to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. This mosaic tile is stylized to represent the view from Prospect Point in the 1950’s. A couple in the foreground sits serenely watching the scene. The historic Princess Marguerite II passes below the welcoming span which once required tolls to pass. Today, the bridge remains as impressive as ever, a beautiful architectural landmark that remains in the minds of visitors long after they’ve left Vancouver.”
On Thursday afternoon I went for a walk along Davie Street while waiting for Cathy. The 1901 Gabriola House mansion, probably most famous as Hy’s Steakhouse for many years, sold in 2017 for $6.72 million and is now being converted into condominium housing.
A bench at the Community Garden was a pleasant place to wait for a while longer.
From there we caught a taxi to go to the harbour for a walk. Most of the yacht listings in storefronts said “SOLD,” but Tiger Lilli, a 65-foot 2004 Pacific Mariner Diamond, is available for $795,000 USD.
One of the famous floating gas stations in the harbour.
The container port.
The number of murals in Vancouver seems to be growing quite rapidly.
That evening, we met one of my nieces at Granville Island and had an excellent meal at The Sandbar, right under the Granville Street Bridge. This was my view from our table.
Friday was a quiet morning. Another taxi ride to the airport, and we were at the Air North gate at 1:00 pm, ready to go home.
Taking off at 1:47.
Goodbye, Vancouver. We’ll be back in about a month. That’s the University of BC in the foreground, downtown under the wing.
The visibility was poor on the way north, and the next photo was the only one I shot. That’s Surprise Lake as we were on our descent just east of Atlin. The light streaks are placer gold mines.
Bella and Tucker were very excited when we got home just after 4:00. Having a friend they love take care of them and our home for the 4 days made the trip so much easier.
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