Vancouver's Cultural Heritage

Downtown Vancouver is the part of the city with the highest level of preservation.

The Gastown National Historic Site, the Hotel Europa, opened in 1903 and now houses the Italian Cultural Center. It was built by David Oppenheimer, who made his fortune from New Brighton Park (a major amusement park on the English Bay) and the Vancouver Hotel.

Galleries and theaters

The Vancouver Art Gallery, built in 1939 by Arthur Erickson, was formerly the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The library has since moved across the street to a new building similar in architecture. The original library building now houses art galleries and restaurants. The Vancouver Public Library's digital archive includes 200,000 digitized images of artist Gordon Smith's work from the 1970s. One of the major works below is a mural that was part of Expo '86, then known as Science World at TELUS World of Science. The artwork was called Continuum and consisted of 18 individual panels and a wall depicting the story of human evolution.

The Woodwards Building (now known as 'W2') was built in 1888. It replaced a previous building that had caught fire and burned to the ground. The new building had ground floor retail space and offices on the upper floors, including that occupied by the town council from 1894 to 1899. Another building in the area is the Dominion Building, which originally housed a department store. The ground floor has housed a Hublot shop since 2010.

The large red neon sign with the words "Roxy" on top of the Roxy Theater was installed in 1941 and is still lit every night. It replaced an earlier sign that was destroyed in a fire. The Roxy Theater was built in 1948 and is the only surviving cinema of the period in the city center. It was built by Nath Taylor, who also built theaters in New Westminster and Victoria. Nat Taylor's son 'Buzz' Taylor later ran the theater company and ran the Roxy for many years until his retirement in 2014.

The Sun Tower

The Sun Tower was built in 1911. It is the only skyscraper on this side of town. It was once the tallest building in Vancouver and held that title until 1957, when it was surpassed by the Marine Building. The Sun Tower's lighthouse was used as a landmark by aviators, and its observation tower was once open to the public. The Sun Tower was one of Vancouver's first buildings with an underground garage underneath Water Street. It is now home to many residential and commercial properties.

Cafes and hotels

The Granville Square building, which was built in 1991, has offices on the upper floors and retail space on the ground floor. One of the retail shops is Rogers. The other shop in this building is Vancouver's first Starbucks coffee shop, which opened in 1987 across the street from its original location (across from where Starbucks Coffee is now). The original Starbucks coffee shop at this location was forced to close after complaints from Tully's Coffee (which had opened a few months earlier).

The historic Del Mar Inn (built in 1928) is now a hostel for tourists. Poker tournaments from all over Canada come here, and open the Fresh Casino website to participate too and get a stay at the historic venue. The restaurant on the ground floor is called Ye's Sushi and has been part of the Vancouver landscape since 1947 and was once a favorite haunt of musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.