There is no better way to see Canada than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour.
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on Canadian streets.
The newly formed nation of Canada, comprised solely of eastern provinces, was able to pull British Columbia into its confederation in 1871 on the promise that the transcontinental railroad would link to the Pacific Ocean. Initially the plans were for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to build into the established town of Moodyville on the eastern end of Burrard Inlet. But in 1884 general manager William Van Horne visited the area and dismissed the existing settlement as too shallow for ocean-going ships to meet the railroad.
So the CPR negotiated for another site on English Bay that, oh by the way, would mean a much greater supply of land grants for the railroad by building deeper into the peninsula. The CPR eventually finished their line just to the west of the existing townsite that was known as Granville and Van Horne got rid of that name as well, opting for what he considered a more cosmopolitan-sounding name - Vancouver, after the English sea captain George Vancouver who had been the first English-speaking native to explore the upper Pacific Coast. The new city was incorporated in 1886 and the first trains from the east rumbled to Burrard Inlet a year later.
When the first CPR station was erected the surrounding neighbourhood was mostly residential. It did not take long for the business community to begin making its way out of the original townsite - now referred to as Gastown - towards the CPR hub and the railroad’s surrounding land which it was eager to develop. One thing Vancouver showed a penchant for early was the skyscraper. Several towers erected on English Bay in the early decades of the 20th century stood as the tallest structures in the British Empire. By the 1950s the axes along West Hastings Street and Granville Street were entrenched as the retail and business centre of the city.
As Vancouver grew into the most densely populated city in Canada it also emerged as one of the world cities most densely populated with skyscrapers. The town’s hunger for ever-higher reaching towers consumed many heritage buildings - the loss of some, such as the original Birks Building, are still mourned today. Other times, in an attempt to retain a scrap of architectural history developers practised what was called “facadism” by preserving the fronts of old buildings and raising towers on the rubble of their demolished innards. Today Vancouver’s City Centre claims some 50 buildings in excess of 100 metres.
21st century Vancouver has established itself as a modern municipal wonder with gleaming skyscrapers that still leave 27 protected view corridors to the North Shore Mountains and the sparkling waters of English Bay and the Strait of Georgia. But there remain pockets of heritage structures as well and to seek them out we will begin at the catalyst for development in Vancouver City Centre...
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on Canadian streets.
The newly formed nation of Canada, comprised solely of eastern provinces, was able to pull British Columbia into its confederation in 1871 on the promise that the transcontinental railroad would link to the Pacific Ocean. Initially the plans were for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to build into the established town of Moodyville on the eastern end of Burrard Inlet. But in 1884 general manager William Van Horne visited the area and dismissed the existing settlement as too shallow for ocean-going ships to meet the railroad.
So the CPR negotiated for another site on English Bay that, oh by the way, would mean a much greater supply of land grants for the railroad by building deeper into the peninsula. The CPR eventually finished their line just to the west of the existing townsite that was known as Granville and Van Horne got rid of that name as well, opting for what he considered a more cosmopolitan-sounding name - Vancouver, after the English sea captain George Vancouver who had been the first English-speaking native to explore the upper Pacific Coast. The new city was incorporated in 1886 and the first trains from the east rumbled to Burrard Inlet a year later.
When the first CPR station was erected the surrounding neighbourhood was mostly residential. It did not take long for the business community to begin making its way out of the original townsite - now referred to as Gastown - towards the CPR hub and the railroad’s surrounding land which it was eager to develop. One thing Vancouver showed a penchant for early was the skyscraper. Several towers erected on English Bay in the early decades of the 20th century stood as the tallest structures in the British Empire. By the 1950s the axes along West Hastings Street and Granville Street were entrenched as the retail and business centre of the city.
As Vancouver grew into the most densely populated city in Canada it also emerged as one of the world cities most densely populated with skyscrapers. The town’s hunger for ever-higher reaching towers consumed many heritage buildings - the loss of some, such as the original Birks Building, are still mourned today. Other times, in an attempt to retain a scrap of architectural history developers practised what was called “facadism” by preserving the fronts of old buildings and raising towers on the rubble of their demolished innards. Today Vancouver’s City Centre claims some 50 buildings in excess of 100 metres.
21st century Vancouver has established itself as a modern municipal wonder with gleaming skyscrapers that still leave 27 protected view corridors to the North Shore Mountains and the sparkling waters of English Bay and the Strait of Georgia. But there remain pockets of heritage structures as well and to seek them out we will begin at the catalyst for development in Vancouver City Centre...
