1. It was built for CPR passengers
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) opened the first Hotel 麻豆传媒映画in 1888 as a compliment to the successful opening of the city鈥檚 new railway the year prior. It was meant for weary train passengers who would arrive just steps away at the Granville Street station.
2. Vancouverites did NOT like the design
One year before completion, local newspaper聽The Ledge, suggested that the Hotel Vancouver鈥檚 architectural renderings resembled 鈥渁 compound of a decayed grist-mill with bits of the bastile and the tower of London added,鈥� and that the design was a 鈥渕onument of external ugliness.鈥�
When speaking to the designer, CPR president William Cornelius Van Horne聽commented, 鈥渟o you鈥檙e the damn fool who spoilt the building with all those little windows.鈥� Not a great start for the city鈥檚 largest hotel鈥�
3. Van Horne imagined a string of grand hotels across Canada
The聽Hotel 麻豆传媒映画opened on May 16, 1888, followed by a similar hotel in Banff, AB., just two weeks later. The hotels were meant to tempt Canadians with the idea of riding the CPR railway across the country.
4. Vancouverites also did not like the location
Despite being in what is now the centre of the city, the 60-room hotel was deemed 鈥渙ut of the way,鈥� because of its distance from the city centre (present day Gastown). The hotel sat surrounded by forests and brush. It was located on Georgia and Granville Street.
5. It was so successful that it had to be replaced
With Vancouver鈥檚 economy booming, the CPR welcomed thousands of new tourists and workers to Vancouver. In 1916, the CPR replaced the Hotel 麻豆传媒映画with its second incarnation, which was much grander in both capacity and design. The聽Italian Renaissance-style building was passed onto the聽Canadian Pacific Railway and eventually demolished in 1949.
