VANCOUVER - British Columbia: Including the Alaska Highway - page 47

Cathedral Place
Cathedral Place is worth visiting for an intriguing sculpture, Navigational Device, located
in the lobby. The high-rise, built in 1991, replaced a classic art deco building. To placate op-
position to the construction, architects incorporated various art deco elements into its design
and even a copper-colored roof similar to that of the nearby Hotel Vancouver.
Next door to Cathedral Place is the Hongkong Bank building, which features a massive
27-meter (88-foot) aluminum pendulum in the lobby. Next door again, on the corner of West
Georgia and Burrard Streets, is Christ Church Cathedral. When built in 1895, it was in
the heart of a residential area. Over the ensuing century, it was engulfed by modern devel-
opments and is today Vancouver's oldest church, attracting more sightseers than believers.
Across West Georgia Street from these buildings is the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (900
W. Georgia St.). Built in 1887, the original hotel on this site featured 200 rooms, half of
which had private bathrooms, unheard of in that day. It burned to the ground in 1932 and
was replaced by the hotel that stands today, which reflects the heritage of Canadian Pacific
Railroad-built hotels across the country with its distinctive château-style design topped by
a copper roof.
MM GASTOWN
Three blocks east of Canada Place, Gastown is a marvelous place to spend a few hours. It
was the birthplace of Vancouver, officially named Granville in 1870 but always known as
Gastown, for saloon owner “Gassy Jack” Deighton.
The Great Fire of 1886 destroyed almost all of Gastown's wooden buildings, but the dis-
trict was rebuilt in stone and brick. By the 1960s, this historic district held nothing more
than decrepit Victorian-era buildings and empty warehouses. A massive rejuvenation pro-
gram commenced, and today historic Gastown is one of the city's most popular tourist at-
tractions. Tree-lined cobblestone streets and old gas lamps front brightly painted restored
buildings that are host to galleries, restaurants, and an abundance of gift and souvenir shops.
Most of the action centers along Water Street, which branches east off Cordova Street
and slopes gently toward the site of Gassy Jack's original saloon (now the Alhambra Hotel).
As you first enter Water Street, you're greeted by The Landing, a seven-story heritage
building that has had its exterior restored to its former glory and its interior transformed
from a warehouse to a shopping arcade. Continuing down the hill, on the corner of Water
and Cambie Streets, is the Gastown Steam Clock, one of only two in the world (the other
is a replica of this, the original one). Built by a local clock maker in the mid-1970s, it is