The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (generally known as the Hotel Vancouver) is located on West Georgia Street and Burrard Street, in the heart of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia.
Constructed by Canadian National Hotels, it stands at 111 metres (17 storeys) high. 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.
This building is the third hotel to be named "Hotel Vancouver".This building's predecessor was built in 1916 a block away.
this building's predecessor a block away, was built in 1916, and became a troop barracks during the Second World War, 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 be too much of a potential rival. The second hotel was in a grand Italianate revival style, and was considered one of the great hotels of the British Empire. In the time of this building the names of the Spanish Grill, the Panorama Roof, and the Red Barrel became famous as part of the city's social whirl (names that are used by facilities in the third Hotel Vancouver). It had several ballrooms and lounges, as well as an adjacent opera house cum cinema (originally the Orpheum, later restyled the Lyric), and all the bathrooms were fitted with marble sinks and gold-plate faucetry.
The first two Hotel Vancouvers were between Howe and Granville Streets on the south side of West Georgia Street. The current building, a block away across the fountain plaza of the then-provincial courthouse and on the same side of Georgia.
The present Hotel Vancouver took 11 years to build because construction was halted for five years during the Great Depression. It was started by the Canadian National Railway but was finally completed under a joint operating agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was opened in May of 1939, in time for the Royal visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at a final cost of $12 million.
A $70 million restoration in the mid 1990s has ensured that The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver remains at the very forefront of Vancouver's best hotels.
(Im trying to find some info about the beautiful steepled copper roof...hope I will add some during the morning)
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