Vol. 18 No. 4
April, 1988
|
Make Tomorrow Happen
|
Hotel Vancouver
and its Namesakes
|
Dave Jones
|
When the first Hotel Vancouver opened
on 19 May 1888, it was the subject of much idle chatter among the citizenry.
Sure, they had demanded that a half-million dollar luxury hotel be built as a condition of the land
grant that was offered to the CPR when the main line was extended from Port Moody to the new Pacific terminal on Coal
Harbour.
But now that the building stood ready for business at the corner of Granville and Georgia, nobody was quite sure
what to make of it.
One critic described the hotel as "an exceedingly ugly workhouse or asylum-looking structure",
while another called it "a solid, rather plain structure, a sort of glorified farmhouse, to which a number of
extra storeys had been added".
Modest Structure Reflected Frugality of Times
And indeed it was a modest structure, in keeping with the frugality of the times, that would soon be forgotten in the
shadow of the grand railway hotels that followed in the ensuing years.
There is a fictitious, though amusing, tale that is often told in connection with the opening of the hotel. The story
has it that Van Horne came to Vancouver on one of his many trips of inspection. On this occasion, when he was
introduced to the architect of the Vancouver Hotel, Thomas Sorby, a great admirer of the Queen Anne style of
architecture, he looked that gentleman over, gave a sniff, and remarked: "So, you're the damned old fool
who has been filling this town up with small windows".
In truth, Van Horne had known Sorby for several years, as he had already completed a number of commissions for the
railway, including the Dalhousie Square station in Montreal, and the three chalet-style mountain hotels
at Glacier, North Bend, and Field in B.C.
In fact, the plans for the Hotel Vancouver had been completed in Montreal as early as 1886, and had been approved by
Van Horne himself. They were later destroyed in the Vancouver fire that summer.
During construction, the bricks in the walls of the first storey, which had been purchased at a bargain price from
a brickyard in Victoria, were pitted so badly by frost the first winter that the whole storey had to be cemented to
secure a decent face.
Wasn't Such a Bad Old Place
In any case, it really wasn't such a bad old place. It eventually won over the town with its
well-appointed public rooms, in which great receptions were held, and the extra business and prestige it
brought to the city.
However, the rapid growth of the Western terminus precluded a long life for the building and a new wing was added as
early as 1893.
Another addition was completed in 1905 by the renowned Francis Mawson Rattenbury, architect of the B.C. provincial
legislative buildings (1898) and the Empress Hotel (1908) in Victoria. This was to be a prelude to a new building
that Rattenbury was to construct as a replacement for the older structure, but was never completed.
Instead, the project languished until Francis S. Swales designed and H-shaped, 600-bedroom
hotel, incorporating some of the public rooms of the older buildings, but giving the site a new look - and a handsome
one at that.
Completed in 1917, despite the austerity caused by the war in Europe, the new Hotel Vancouver was the object of much
oohing and aahing in the local press, and was described as "one of the finest on the North American
continent".
Third and second Hotel
Vancouver - Date/photographer unknown.
But once again, the passage of time was quick to catch up with the Hotel Vancouver, and a little over two decades
after its opening, on 17 May 1939, a farewell luncheon was hosted by the Vancouver Board of Trade for
the aging hostelry, while a block down the street, on Georgia, a new structure was usurping its name.
Under construction since 1929, the third Hotel Vancouver, jointly owned by Canadian Pacific and Canadian National,
became the heir to the traditions of the railway hotels that had preceded it.
While Canadian Pacific's connection with the hotel business was interrupted in September, 1963, when our interest in
the Hotel Vancouver was sold to Canadian National, by a happy twist of fate we have in turn become the sole owners
of this well-known landmark, through the recent sale of CN Hotels' nine properties to Canadian Pacific
Hotels.
Although we've never really left, it kind of feels like comin' home.
Third Hotel Vancouver now owned by
Fairmont Hotels - Date/photographer unknown.
This CP Rail News article is copyright
1988 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with
their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company.
|
