Marine Building

Vancouver’s Marine Building, a 22-storey skyscraper at 355 Burrard Street completed in 1930, was the city’s tallest building until 1939 and became one of its defining historic landmarks. Conceived by Lieutenant Commander J.W. Hobbs after the opening of the Panama Canal, it was designed by McCarter Nairne and Partners as an Art Deco tower saturated with marine imagery inside and out, from sea-life ornament to richly detailed elevators and lobby finishes. Its $2.3 million cost and the arrival of the Great Depression quickly hurt its commercial fortunes, but it endured through later renovation, screen appearances, and continued prominence in Vancouver.

British Columbia · Canada