The Hotel Vancouver
900 West Georgia Street
First opened in 1939, this elegant building is actually the third to be named the Hotel Vancouver. The first two
incarnations of the hotel were located on the south east corner of Georgia and Howe Streets. They were developed and
opened by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1888 and 1916, respectively.
Today's Hotel Vancouver is situated at the south west corner of Georgia and Hornby Streets and is one of a number
of chateau-style hotels developed by the Canadian National Railway (CNR) across Canada in the first half of the 1900's. Those
hotels include the Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta and the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec. The current
Hotel Vancouver was restored in the mid-1990's and features a steep-pitched copper roof, painted green, resplendent
with ornate dormers and fantastic gargoyles.
The Hotel Vancouver is haunted by an elegantly dressed "lady in red" who has been seen on the 14th floor
and in the ground floor lobby near the guest elevator doors. The elevators often stop on the 14th floor of their own accord
and, as one of the empty elevators opens, the red lady is seen gliding through the hallway.
While photographing the 14th floor elevator area on a warm afternoon in July 2006, we captured the image of what appears to
be an orb in front of one of the elevator doors to the east. It was probably a bit of dust caught in the camera flash, but
you never know...
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