Daily Archives: 5 August, 2022

Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre (British Columbia, Canada)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Port of Vancouver Discovery Center

The exciting, high tech Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre, serving multiple arms of the Port Authority, offers a space that converts from visitor Discovery Centre to education centre, to town hall meeting space, to event venue, and at times, all in the same 24 hours.

Entrance

Located on the waterfront at Canada Place, below Fly Over Canada, at the north end of the pier, it is one of the facility most used spaces and a great place to learn about Canada’s largest and busiest port in a fun and interactive wayas well as engage in the stories and ideas that have shaped the port city.

Through the integration of interactive panels, projection mapping surfaces, digital informational kiosks, and broadcast-quality equipment, Eos Lightmedia helped transform the Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre into a highly flexible space, working with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority as well as designers Waddell & Conder, content producers Burnkit, Resolve Design for the history wall, and fabricators Three Dimensional Services to design, supply and integrate the layers of lighting, audiovisual, software and controls technology.

It features interactive touch screens; animated graphics and informative videos; historical artifacts and ship models; west-facing views of Vancouver harbor and access to the Canada Place promenade.

The stunning historical display case spanning the length of the facility

The Discovery Centre is also the venue for a school program designed especially for local elementary students in grades four to six, who use interactive, projection driven benches with embedded touch sensors that provide hands on education about the busy goings on of Canada’s largest port. Eos Lightmedia’s custom control software allows facilitators of the space to change the vocabulary and content to make it suitable for both younger and more mature student groups.

With hundreds of square feet of projection mapped surfaces for interaction and digital informational kiosks, here you can experience the sights and sounds of a busy harbor while learning about Canada’s largest and most diversified port.

St. Roch

You can also learn about early port development; trade, innovation and shipbuilding; harbor operations today; working on the waterfront; environmental programs; and facts and statistics.  In contrast to the cutting edge technology, there’s also stunning historical display case, spanning the length of the facility, that is replete with artifacts from the ports long history in the city.

A Regal Heritage

The entire atmosphere of the room can also change, from its public setting, to a sleek professional meeting room setting with just a click of a button on the facility’s sophisticated control system.

SS Beaver

The interactive touch panels break apart into bench seating for over 100 and, for the Port Authority’s many meetings, announcements, and group functions, the large digital map wall becomes the presentation screen for keynote speakers.

Pacific Gateway

Broadcast quality lighting and audio equipment also allows for events to be live-streamed, in high definition, with professional results without the need for off-site equipment rentals.

Shipbuilding for the Wars

Within the center, every function has its own custom lighting look controlled by DMX over the dedicated exhibit network within the space. The central control system links the benches, their projectors, and the audio systems, automatically turning on and off with a preset, adjustable schedule. The facilities operations team can also instantly recall the various ‘scenes’ within the center.

The Container Revolution

Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre: 100 The Pointe, 999 Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia. Admission is free. Open daily, 8 AM to 8 PM. Download the Port of Vancouver community map to follow along during the virtual harbout tour.

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Fairmont Vancouver Hotel

After our exploration of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Jandy and I visited the historic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.  Formerly and still informally called the Hotel Vancouver, it is situated within the city’s Financial District in Downtown Vancouver, bounded by Burrard Street to the northwest, West Georgia Street to the northeast, and Hornby Street to the southeast. To the southwest, the hotel property is bounded by two buildings, including 750 Burrard Street.

Check out “Vancouver Art Gallery” and “Former Vancouver Law Courts Building”

Jandy and the author with the hotel in the background

This  17-storey building, opened in May 1939 and currently managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, is considered one of Canada’s grand railway hotels (it was initially built by Canadian National Railway). Standing 112.47-m. (369.0 ft) high, the hotel was also the tallest building in Vancouver until the completion of TD Tower in 1972.

The view of the hotel from the Vancouver Art Gallery

Located close to several attractions in Downtown Vancouver, the hotel is situated directly northwest of the aforementioned Vancouver Art Gallery and Robson Square (a public square adjacent the art museum). Christ Church Cathedral, the oldest church in the city, also lies north of the hotel  and two SkyTrain rapid transit stations (Burrard station, and Vancouver City Centre station) are also situated near the hotel.

Heritage Building Plaque

The third hotel in the city to use the name “Hotel Vancouver,” the first and second Hotel Vancouver were both located along West Georgia Street, southeast of the present hotel. The first, a crude four-storey structure, debuted in 1888 after the arrival of the Canadian National Railway in the region. In an effort to prevent competition with the new Hotel Vancouver, Canadian National Railway closed its hotel operations at the second Hotel Vancouver once the new hotel opened and, in 1949, it was torn down after Canadian National Railway sold the property to Eaton’s in December 1948.

Bas reliefs

This Châteauesque-styled hotel (part of series of Chateauesque grand railway hotels built throughout Canada in the late-19th and early 20th centuries), designed by two Canadian architects, John Smith Archibald, and John Schofield, incorporates elements from Renaissance-era chateaus found in France‘s Loire Valley.

The spectacular copper pitch roof outfitted with many dormers

Its Châteauesque features include its prominent and spectacular copper pitched roof, outfitted with many dormers, and extensive amount of carved stonework encompassing a steel frame. Hotel Vancouver also incorporates Renaissance Revival architectural detailings, gargoyles and relief sculptures. The decorative work for the building was done by a number of artists including Olea Marion Davis, Charles Marega, Beatrice Lennie, Valentine Shabief, and Lilias Farley.

Here’s the historical timeline of the hotel:

  • In the 1920s, plans to develop a railway hotel at the present site of Hotel Vancouver first emerged.
  • In December 1928, as a result of a land deal between the city, and Canadian Northern Railway (a company later acquired by Canadian National Railway), work on the present Hotel Vancouver commenced.  Shortly after the erection of the building’s steel frame however, work on the hotel was halted, as a result of the Great Depression.
  • In 1937, work resumed on the building
  • In 1938, a joint investment into the property from Canadian Pacific Hotels (a division of Canadian Pacific Railway) and Canadian National Railway made possible the completion of the new hotel.
  • In May 1939, the hotel was completed in time for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth‘s 1939 royal tour of Canada.
  • In 1962, Canadian National Hotels (a division of Canadian National Railway) acquired Canadian Pacific Hotels’ share of the property, gaining full ownership of the hotel.
  • On January 1, 1964, Hilton Hotels International assumed management of the hotel for CN, though it was never branded as a Hilton.
  • On January 1, 1984, after the management contract with Hilton ended, CN Hotels resumed management of the hotel.
  • In 1988 Canadian National Hotels sold its remaining nine properties, including Hotel Vancouver, to Canadian Pacific Hotels.
  • In 2001, Canadian Pacific Hotels was reorganized as Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, adopting the name from an American company it had purchased in 1999. As a part of this re-branding effort, the hotel’s name was changed to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.
  • In 2007 Fairmont Hotels and Resorts sold 25 hotel properties, including Hotel Vancouver, to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, although Fairmont continues to manage the hotel.
  • In 2015, the property was sold to Larco Enterprise for C$180 million.
  • In 2014, in preparation for the building’s 80th anniversary, the hotel underwent a C$12 million renovation which saw a reworked main lobby and guest rooms and restoration of the 14th floor of the hotel to its original decor from 1939. Restored items on the 14th floor include English harewood doors with bronze doorplates, bronze hallway doors, sapele-panelled walls with bronze strips at its elevator lobby.
  • In 2018, the four-year hotel renovation project was completed.

Check out “80 Years of Iconic Moments“

Hotel lobby

The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, with 557 guest rooms and suites (including the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite and the Royal Suite), has a restaurant (Notch8 Restaurant + Bar which also hosts the hotel’s afternoon tea service), a gym, swimming pool and spa. The Lieutenant Governor’s Suite, designed with Art Deco stylings, features black walnut veneer-paneled walls.

Notch 8 Restaurant

Aside from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, other famous people who stayed there include:

Front Desk

In movies and television the hotel was featured in:

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver: 900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia VC 2W6, Canada. Tel: +1 604 684 3131.  Fax: +1 604 662 1929.  E-mail: hvc.concierge@fairmont.com.

Vancouver Art Gallery (British Columbia, Canada)

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Vancouver Art Gallery

The 15,300 sq. m. (165,000 sq. ft.) Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG), the largest art museum, by building size, in Western Canada, serves as a repository of art for the Lower Mainland region. Its permanent collection consists of approximately 12,000 works (as of December 2018) by artists from Canada and around the world. Aside from exhibiting works from its collection, the museum has also organized and hosted a number of travelling arts exhibitions.The gallery connects to the rest of Robson Square via an underground passage below Robson Street.

“Uninvited – Canadian Women in the Modern Moment” Exhibit

Here is the historical timeline of the museum:

  • In April 1931, in order to establish and maintain a museum for the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Gallery Association was established under the provincial Society Act.
  • On October 5, 1931, the Association opened the art museum to the public in a building, designed by architectural firm Sharp and Johnston and costing approximately CA$40,000 to construct, at 1145 West Georgia Street. It featured four galleries (one of which included a sculpture hall), a lecture hall and a library. At the time of its opening, works exhibited at the museum were dominated by British, and other European artists.
  • In 1938, during a sitdown strike in the weeks leading up to Bloody Sunday, the museum was the one of the buildings occupied by unemployed protesters. Luckily, paintings were not damaged while the protesters occupied the building.
  • In 1950, the museum expanded its first building.To reshape the design of the building towards an International Style of architecture, the building’s Art Deco façade was removed. To accommodate the 157 works bequeathed to the museum by Emily Carr, renovations, costing approximately CA$600,000 (funded by the City of Vancouver government, and funds raised by Lawren Harris) were also conducted
  • In 1951, the building was reopened to the public.
  • In 1983, the institution was relocated to its present location, the former provincial courthouse adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver.It was renovated by architect Arthur Erickson, at a cost of CA$20 million, as a part of his larger three city-block Robson Square The Annex Building was the only part of the building complex that was not converted for museum use.
  • In 2004, a result from its need for more exhibition and storage space for its collections, plans to build a new building for the museum were undertaken.
  • In November 2007, the museum publicly announced plans to move, seeking approval from Vancouver City Council to build a new building at Larwill Park, a block formerly occupied by a bus depot on the corner of Cambie and Georgia streets.
  • In May 2008, the museum and the City of Vancouver government announced its intention to relocate to an area occupied by the Plaza of Nations.
  • In April 2013, the Vancouver City Council later reversed its decision, opting to approve the original proposed site in Larwill Park.
  • In September 2013, the museum formally issued requests for qualifications to construct the new building, receiving responses from 75 architectural firms from 16 countries.
  • In April 2014, the bid of Herzog & de Meuron (the first project for the architectural firm in the country) was selected by the museum.  Perkins and Will‘s Vancouver branch was contracted as the project’s executive architects. The cost to construct the building has been estimated to be CA$330 million, with the federal and provincial governments expected to provide CA$200 million, and the museum expected to raise the rest from public and private donors.  The building was originally planned to be completed in 2020. However, developments for the project stalled due to a funding dispute between the federal and provincial governments.
  • In November 2021, to help fund the new building, the museum received a $100 million donation (the largest cash donation to a public art museum in Canadian history) from Michael Audain.
  • As of November 2021, the museum still needed to raise another $160 million to fund the project.

“The Imitation Game” Exhibit

The former provincial courthouse building, designed by Francis Rattenbury, after winning a design competition in 1905, was opened as a provincial courthouse in 1911, and operated as such until 1979 when the provincial courts moved to the Law Courts south of the building.  In 1980, the building was was designated as the Former Vancouver Law Courts National Historic Site of Canada. Both the main and annex portions of the building are also designated “A” heritage structures by the municipal government.

Check out “Former Victoria Law Courts Building”

“Kids Take Over” Exhibit

It continues to be owned by the Government of British Columbia, although the museum occupies the building through a 99-year sublease signed with the City of Vancouver government in 1974 who, in turn, leases the building from the provincial government. The museum’s permanent collection is formally owned by the City of Vancouver, with the museum acting as the custodians for the collection under a lease and license agreement. Should the museum secure its relocation to its proposed site at Larwill Park, the museum would occupy the building under similar arrangements as the former courthouse, with the museum leasing the property from the City of Vancouver.

“Everything Under The Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft” Exhibit

The Vancouver Art Gallery has organized and hosted a number of temporary and travelling exhibitions. A select list of exhibitions held at the museum since 2005 include:

  • Brian Jungen (2006)
  • Monet to Dali: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art (2007)
  • KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art (2008)
  • Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art Masterpieces from The Rijksmuseum (2009)
  • Leonardo da Vinci: The Mechanics of Man (2010)
  • The Color of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art (2011)
  • Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore (2012)
  • Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture (2012)
  • Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life (2013)
  • Charles Edenshaw (2013)
  • The Forbidden City: Inside the Court of China’s Emperors (2014)
  • Unscrolled: Reframing Tradition in Chinese Contemporary Art (2014)
  • Cezanne and the Modern: Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman Collection (2015)
  • How Do I Fit This Ghost in My Mouth? An exhibition by Geoffrey Farmer (2015)
  • Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven (2015)
  • Douglas Coupland: Everywhere Is Anywhere Is Anything Is Everything (2015)
  • MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture (2016)
  • Picasso: The Artist and His Muses (2016)
  • Claude Monet’s Secret Garden (2017)
  • Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats its Own Leg (2018)
  • French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950 (2019)
  • Alberto Giacometti: A Line Through Time (2019)
  • Cindy Sherman (2020)
  • Growing Freedom: The instructions of Yoko Ono/ The art of John and Yoko (2022)

“Restless: Recent Acquisitions” Exhibit

During our visit, there were five ongoing exhibits – “Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment” Exhibit in the ground floor; “The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” Exhibit at the second floor; and “Kids Take Over” Exhibit, “Everything Under the Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft” Exhibit and “Restless: Recent Acquisitions” Exhibit at the third floor.

Check out “Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment” Exhibit, “The Imitation Game: Visual Culture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” Exhibit, “Kids Take Over” Exhibit, “Everything Under the Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft” Exhibit and “Restless: Recent Acquisitions” Exhibit“

Self-Portrait of Emily Carr (1938-39, oil on wove paper)

The Centennial Fountain, on the Georgia Street side of the building, was installed in 1966 to commemorate the centennial of the union of the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia.  In 2017, it was later removed as part of the Georgia Street plaza renovations.

Are You Talking to Me

The Neo-Classical-style building, replacing the previous courthouse at Victory Square, wasconstructed using marble imported from Alaska, Tennessee and Vermont.  It has Ionic columns, a central dome, formal porticos and ornate stonework. Construction for the building, which contained 18 courtrooms, began in 1906. In 1912, an annex, designed by Thomas Hooper, was added to the western side of the building. Declared as a heritage site, it still retains the original judges’ benches and walls as they were when the building was a courthouse.

Clear Cut to the Last Tree (Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, screenprint on paper)

The front lawn and steps of the building has hosted a number of public gatherings and protest rallies, serving as the monthly meeting spot for Vancouver’s Critical Mass, as well as flash mobs, the Zombie Walk, pro-marijuana rallies and numerous environmental demonstrations. The steps on both the Robson Street and Georgia Street sides of the building are also popular gathering spots for protest rallies. In the summertime, the Georgia Street side is also a popular place for people to relax or socialize.

Amauti (Anne Maria Kigerlerk, 1937)

In March 2007, the 2010 Olympic countdown clock, placed in the front lawn of the building, was  opened for free for the public to see. Now disassembled, one half of the clock went to BC Place and the other to Whistler Village.In June 2021, Cheryle Gunargie created a vigil(consisting of 215 pairs of shoes) to honor the 215 children whose remains were discovered in unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Caffeinated Diversions (Scott Eaton, 2018-19, inkjet print on paper) (1)

The permanent collection acts as the principal repository of works produced in the Lower Mainland region, with museum acquisitions typically focused on historical and contemporary art from the region. Approximately half of the works in its collection were produced by artists from Western Canada. In addition to art from the region, the collection also has a focus on First Nations art, and art from Asia. The museum’s collection is organized into several smaller areas, contemporary art from Asia, photography and conceptual photography, works by indigenous Canadian artists from the region, and artists from Vancouver and British Columbia.

Baskets (Panier)

The museum’s photography and conceptual art collection includes photographs from the 1950s to the present, and includes photos by the N.E. Thing Co. artist collective, photographers of the Vancouver School of conceptual photography, and other artists including Dan Graham, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Robert Smithson, and Thomas Struth. The museum’s collection of contemporary Asian art includes works by Eikoh Hosoe, Mariko Mori, Fiona Tan, Jin-me Yoon, Reena Saini Kallat, Song Dong, Wang Du, Wang Jianwei, Yang Fudong, and O Zhang.

Children Playing (Thomas Kakinuma, ca. 1960)

Serving as a repository for art for the region, the museum holds a number of works by artists based in the Lower Mainland, in addition to artists based in other regions of British Columbia. The museum’s collection includes works from Canadian artists, including members of the Group of Seven, Gathie Falk, Michael Snow, and Joyce Wieland.

Kitwancool Totems (Emily Carr, 1928, oil on canvas)

The museum’s collection also features a significant number of works by Emily Carr, dating from 1913 to 1942. The painting Totem Poles, Kitseukla, by Carr, was among the original set of works acquired for the museum’s collection prior to opening in 1931. The permanent collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery, along with the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, hold the largest number of works by Carr of any collection in the world.

Patriotism (Joyce Wieland, 1967, vinyl, textile,photograph, paper, cotton, wood, thread)

The museum’s also features a collection of indigenous Canadian art from the region, including works from Haida, Heiltsuk, Inuit, Kwakwakaʼwakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Nuxalk, and Tlingit artists. Regular acquisitions of indigenous Canadian works was undertaken by the museum beginning in the 1980s; with the museum’s practices prior to the 1980s typically leaving the acquisition of indigenous Canadian works for the collections of ethnographic, or history museums.

A Descent of Lilies (Pegi Nicoll MacLeod, 1935, oil on canvas)

In 2015, George Gund III bequeathed to the museum 37 First Nations works, including totem poles by Ken Mowatt and Norman Tait, drawings by Bill Reid, and thirteen carved works by Robert Davidson. Other works in the museum’s indigenous Canadian collection includes works by Sonny Assu, Rebecca Belmore, Dempsey Bob, Dana Claxton, Joe David, Reg Davidson, Beau Dick, Brian Jungen, Marianne Nicolson, and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.

Actual Photo Series (Laurie Simmons and Allan McCollum, 1985, azo dye prints)

The Vancouver Art Gallery Library and Archives is a non-circulating library that specializing in modern, contemporary and Canadian art. Its holdings include more than 50,000 books and exhibition catalogues, 30 journal subscriptions, 5,000 files that document various artists, art forms, and works. Access to the museum’s library and archives require a scheduled appointment.

Sea and Shore (Florence Wyle, ca. 1950, marble)

The museum’s archives contain the institution’s official records since its founding in 1931. In addition to institutional documents, the archives also includes files from B.C. Binning, and the books and serials where Bill Bissett’s concrete poetry was published.

In a Food Court (Evan Lee, 2019, oil pigment, pastel on canvas) (1)

The Vancouver Art Gallery offers a wide range of public programs throughout the year, including live performances marketed under the FUSE program, scholar’s lectures, artist’s talks, as well as dance and musical performances. In its most recent year, the gallery has featured over 60 presenters, including historian Timothy Brook, writer Sarah Milroy, and Emily Carr scholar, Gerta Moray. In May 2015, the gallery welcomed architect Jacques Herzog as he presented his first lecture in Canada on architecture and the new Vancouver Art Gallery building.

Neri Oxman and the MIT Mediated Matter Group

Vancouver Art Gallery: 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 2H7, Canada.    Open Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10 AM – 5 PM, Tuesdays and Fridays, 12 noon to 8 PM. Admission: $24.00 (adults), $20.00 (seniors), $18 (students), $6.50 (children, 6 – 12 years old) and free (children 5 years old and under).  Tuesdays, from 5 – 9 PM are “donation nights” (pay whatever you want or can afford). Coordinates: 49.282875°N 123.120464°W.

 

Former Vancouver Law Courts Building (British Columbia, Canada)

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Former Vancouver Law Courts Building

The three-storey, grand Former Vancouver Law Courts Building, situated on a city block bounded by Georgia, Howe, Hornby and Robson Streets, is a good example of Neo-Classical design in the Beaux-Art tradition, widely promoted for public buildings in North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Replacing the previous courthouse at Victory Square, it was designed by noted Victoria architect Francis Mawson Rattenbury (responsible for many prominent public buildings in British Columbia including the Legislative Building in Victoria), after winning a design competition in 1905.  Construction began in 1906 and the provincial courthouse,containing 18 courtrooms,was opened in the fall of 1911, at which time it was praised as the finest building of its kind in Canada.

Check out “”Legislative Assembly of British Columbia”

By 1914, the city had outgrown the original building and a large new wing, connected to the main building by an enclosed two-storey corridor, was added to the western side of the building according to the 1912 designs of Thomas Hooper. It operated as such until 1979 when it was decided that the building could no longer accommodate the needs of the court and the decision was made to construct new facilities.

Vancouver architect Arthur Erickson was commissioned to design the new Law Courts House,located across the street south of the building,and to convert the former Court House into the Vancouver Art Gallery.In 1980, the building was designated as the Former Vancouver Law Courts National Historic Site of Canada.

Entrance to Vancouver Art Gallery

Both the main and annex portions of the building are also designated “A” heritage structures by the municipal government. As a heritage site, it still retains the original judges’ benches and walls as they were when the building was a courthouse.

The massive staircase

The building continues to be owned by the Government of British Columbia, although the Vancouver Art Gallery occupies the building through a 99-year sublease signed with the City of Vancouver government in 1974 who, in turn, leases the building from the provincial government.

Check out “Vancouver Art Gallery“

One of two granite guardian lions

The building consists of three parts with two wings on west and east facades faced with inset Ionic columns flanking a massive projecting central pediment. The latter features an imposing formal portico supported by four columns and surmounted by a flat roof and a copper-clad central dome(with four semicircular occuli) on an elevated base.

On the north and south facades are granite pilasters. Rusticated Nelson Island granite cladding was used for the base section and smooth Haddington Island stone cladding for upper levels.Marble was imported from Alaska, Tennessee and Vermont.

Throughout the facade are decorative stone and plaster scrollwork with acanthus leaf, garland and wreath motifs and stone balustrades along the roof line.Some of the recessed and symmetrical fenestration have protruding granite sills and canopies.Cast iron grates are found above the foundation. Also on the west and east facades are massive granite stair entrances. The twin, ca. 1910 granite lions, on pedestals, symbolize British justice.

Rotunda

 

The original interior layout features a twinned, marble clad staircase with ornamental wrought iron balustrades; a central rotunda, beneath the dome on the mezzanine level, with a series of two-storey arcades; terrazzo flooring in fan and Greek key motif;tapered marble columns on the mezzanine level;plaster egg and dart,garland and wreath motifs on the ceilings, cornices and walls; British Columbia fir and oak for the paneling,cornices, wainscoting and architraves; and British Columbia and Alaskan marble for foyer, floors, baseboards, vestibule halls, stairs and risers.

Marble staircase

Original signs identifying “OFFICES,” “LAND REGISTRY,” “POLICE” (with accompanying “Sheriff” signage) are still incised into offices on the north and south first floor level.

The front lawn and steps of the building has hosted a number of public gatherings and protest rallies, serving as the monthly meeting spot for Vancouver’s Critical Mass, as well as flash mobs, the Zombie Walk, pro-marijuana rallies and numerous environmental demonstrations.

Dome and oculus

The steps on both the Robson Street and Georgia Street sides of the building are also popular gathering spots for protest rallies. In the summertime, the Georgia Street side is also a popular place for people to relax or socialize.

Former Vancouver Law Courts Building: 800 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6z 2E1, Canada.