Our second Hotel Vancouver opened its doors in 1916 and was the most elegant and ornate building that we have destroyed.
From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History
Built in 1916 and pulled down just 33 years later to make way for a parking lot, the second Hotel Vancouver was a replacement for the original Hotel Vancouver which was built in 1888.
The new 16-storey version had 700 rooms and was designed in the grand Italianate revival style. The hotel had arched windows, turrets, a roof top garden, and was dressed up with Gargoyles, buffalo heads and terra cotta moose.
At the end of the Second World War, homeless veterans took over the hotel, and it became an official barracks for a short time before its demise in 1949 at the tender young age of 33. And, after two decades as a parking lot, the site became home to the uninspiring Pacific Centre mall and the 30-storey black TD Tower which opened in 1972
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14 comments on “Our Second Hotel Vancouver (1916-1949)”
My only comment would be that the ” homeless vets” also had their new brides and children with them at the Vancouver hotel. They went to war as very young people…some were teenagers and they came home with wives and children and the govt had made no long term provisions for them. The govt finally had homes built for them and they could rent them at very low rent such as the large subdivision at Grandview highway and boundary road. Every home was home to a veteran and their children. I am one of those children. A memorial plaque sits at Falaise Park commemorating our parents.
Thanks so much Sharon for adding this important and personal piece of information to the hotel’s history.
Glad you filled in this info. I bought an airport building which was a mess hall, kitchen, radio room. Etc. It was moved from an airport and moved to my far. So we’ll built. Many family homes were built for the army that are still lived in today. Thank you for sharing your story.
This is my absolute favourite Vancouver building and I’ve never seen it in person before. The app ‘Circa 1948’ does a great job of showing what kind of lives and stories existed inside before it was destroyed. I’m also proud to say I own the key to room 227A, as well as an inter phone that was believed to be used in the hotel as well.
I went through the virtual reality version of the app last year and it was quite amazing. It’s great that you were able to salvage a little bit of the hotel.
Wouldn’t it be neat if someone recreated that beautiful building!
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At 17, I worked briefly as a stenographer in the beautiful second Hotel Vancouver for the Unemployment Insurance Company as it was then termed. The offices had been moved up from Hastings Street. I also remember an aunt telling me how she and her husband to be had gone dancing at the hotelin the Spanish Grill I believe it was called. It was a shame to tear it down. A part of Vancouver’s history that can never be restored. Then my husband to be lived there for a short time when he returned from the navy after the war.
That’s amazing. This is one building I would have loved to see inside! Thanks for adding to the story.
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