Each week we鈥檒l uncover some聽unusual and (hopefully) interesting facts about聽the city. This week we take on the first Hotel Vancouver.
1. It was built for C.P.R. passengers
C.P.R. Station 麻豆传媒映画on Granville St, 1900. Photo: 麻豆传媒映画Archives Item: S-3-2
The Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) 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 St station.
2. Vancouverites did NOT like the design
Hotel 麻豆传媒映画1900. Photo: 麻豆传媒映画Archives Item: Hot P88
One year before completion, local newspaper聽The Ledge, suggested that the Hotel Vancouver's architectural renderings resembled "a compound of a decayed grist-mill with bits of the bastile and the tower of London added", and that the design was a "monument of external ugliness".
When speaking to the designer, C.P.R. 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�.聽Not a great start for the city's largest hotel...
3. Van Horne imagined a string of grand hotels across Canada
W.C. Van Horne, 1914 Photo: 麻豆传媒映画Archives Item: Port P1726
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 C.P.R. railway across the country.
4. Vancouverites also did not like the location
Dominion Photo Co. photo, 麻豆传媒映画Public Library VPL 24322.
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 St.
5. It was so successful that it had to be replaced
Hotel Vancouver, 1917. Photo: 麻豆传媒映画Archives Item: CVA 677-21
With Vancouver's economy booming, the C.P.R. welcomed thousands of new tourists and workers to Vancouver. In 1916, the C.P.R. 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.
