Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

A steep green copper roof is how Vancouver recognises Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, the third hotel of that name, which stands at 900 West Georgia Street, opposite the Vancouver Art Gallery. It opened in May 1939 after eleven years of interrupted construction. Known locally as the Castle in the City, it is the historic luxury hotel in Vancouver for royal visits, state dinners and large weddings.

History

The first Hotel Vancouver was opened by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888, and a second, larger building followed in 1916 at the corner of Georgia and Granville. The present hotel was started in 1928 by the rival Canadian National Railway on a site one block west. The Depression stopped the works in 1931 with the steel frame standing bare over the city. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific finally agreed to complete and run the hotel together, and it opened on 25 May 1939, days before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived on their Canadian tour. The second Hotel Vancouver was closed as part of the agreement and later demolished.

Canadian Pacific Hotels ran the house for the rest of the century and rebranded it, with its other château hotels, under the Fairmont name in 1999. The hotel has since received Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, and is still the address for official receptions in the city.

Architecture and design

The design is by the Montreal architects John S. Archibald and John Schofield, in the châteauesque style that the railways had adopted for the Château Frontenac and the Banff Springs. Seventeen storeys of stone rise to a steep pitched roof, originally bright copper and now oxidised to green. Gargoyles, griffins and carved stone details decorate the upper floors, and the roofline is lit at night. Inside, the lobby and the main corridors keep their high ceilings and stone, while the rooms have been renovated several times, most recently in the late 2010s.

Rooms and suites

The rooms occupy the floors above the public areas, with the Fairmont Gold floors offering a private lounge, dedicated check-in and breakfast. The upper rooms look towards the harbour and the North Shore mountains or towards the city. The hotel accepts pets and keeps a resident dog in the lobby, a tradition visitors come to see.

Dining

Notch8 Restaurant & Bar, on the ground floor, takes its name from the top setting of a locomotive throttle, a reference to the railways that built the hotel. It serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea in a dining room restored to its original volumes.

Wellness

The hotel has an indoor swimming pool, a whirlpool and a fitness centre. A spa was announced for 2025 to replace the previous treatment rooms.

Weddings and events

The hotel counts 22 event spaces. The two largest are the Pacific Ballroom, with its coffered ceiling and balcony, and the British Columbia Ballroom, both used for galas, conferences and weddings of several hundred guests. Smaller rooms on the mezzanine take board meetings and private dinners. Weddings are held in the ballrooms and in the smaller salons for intimate ceremonies.

Location

The hotel is in the centre of downtown Vancouver, between Burrard and Hornby streets on West Georgia. The Vancouver Art Gallery and Robson Square face it, Robson Street shopping is a block away, and Canada Place and the waterfront are a ten-minute walk north. Two blocks away, Vancouver City Centre station on the Canada Line connects to Vancouver International Airport in about 25 minutes, and a taxi reaches Stanley Park in fifteen.