23 Vancouver Street Corners Then and Now

Every old Vancouver street photo was taken from a spot you can still stand on. Some of those corners look almost the same. Others have changed so much that the only clue is a clock tower or a street name.

This guide covers corners where archive photos line up with what’s there today. Each one comes with what stood there, what happened to it, and where to stand to match the old view. The corners range from Maple Tree Square, where the city’s first election notice was posted on a tree, out to the West End at English Bay.

Many of the photos you’ll want can be downloaded from the City of Vancouver Archives, which had about 80,000 high-resolution images available online as of 2015, with more added since. Bring a few on your phone and walk the route in clusters: Gastown and Chinatown, Hastings, Granville and Georgia, then the West End and Main Street.

23. The 1957 Central Library (Robson & Burrard)

From the corner today, this looks like any glass-fronted commercial building. In 1957 it was a first. The former Vancouver Public Library was the city’s first glass curtain-wall building. It’s a four-storey concrete structure, mostly glass on its Burrard and Robson frontages.

It won the 1958 Massey Silver Medal for Architecture. It served as a library until April 22, 1995. The building was later sold and converted to commercial use, and the sun louvers on the Robson Street side were removed.

It’s on the northeast corner of Robson and Burrard. Local tip: look for the street-level plaque on the Burrard side that marks its library past. Archive photos with the louvers still in place show what the conversion changed.

22. The Lee Building (Main & Broadway)

Across False Creek in Mount Pleasant, the Lee Building was a statement. At seven storeys, it was the tallest building south of False Creek. It stood as a sign of confidence in the city’s prosperity.

The street names around it come from the same boom. During a long real-estate run, 9th Avenue was renamed Broadway in 1909. Westminster Avenue became Main Street in 1910.

In the 1950s, Broadway was widened, and the ground-floor shops were pushed back to make room. That’s the change you can spot from the corner.

Local tip: compare a 1927 or 1940 archive view with today’s. Look for the arcade where the shopfronts used to be.

21. Pacific Central Station (Main & Terminal)

Pacific Central Station was completed around 1919. It stands on what were tidal mudflats until they were filled in after 1912 to make room for railways and heavy industry.

It was also a place of work for many Black men from the nearby neighbourhood of Hogan’s Alley. That connection is part of why the building matters, and part of what an archive photo of the station can’t show on its own.

It’s at 1150 Station Street, next to Main Street-Science World SkyTrain station. Local tip: archive photos from 1917 and 1918 show the station rising on fill. Pair one with a current view and you’re looking at land that used to be water.

20. The Old Post Office, now Sinclair Centre (Granville & Hastings)

The 43-metre clock tower on the northwest corner of Granville and Hastings is how most people spot this building. Construction began in 1905 and finished by 1910. Public Works’ chief architect, David Ewart, designed it as the city’s post office.

It has a harder history than the stonework suggests. During the Great Depression, unemployed men occupied the post office to protest the lack of federal support. More recently, the passport office and Service Canada centre inside Sinclair Centre closed permanently on March 6, 2026.

The exterior is there any time. Sinclair Centre’s website lists mall hours of Monday to Saturday 10am to 5:30pm, closed Sunday, if you want to see the atrium clock inside. It’s across Cordova from Waterfront Station.

Local tip: archive views from 1912 of this corner line up almost exactly with today’s clock tower. It’s one of the easiest then-and-now pairs on the list.

19. The Hotel Europe Flatiron (Powell & Alexander)

Hotel Europe fills a triangular lot, and the building takes the shape of it. It’s a heritage flatiron from 1908 to 1909. The point of the triangle faces Maple Tree Square.

It now provides affordable housing. Film crews have used it as a location, including for the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall.

It’s at 43 Powell Street, next to Maple Tree Square. Local tip: shoot the point of the triangle from the square. This is a private residence, so stay on the sidewalk and don’t block the door.

18. The Chinese Freemasons Building (Pender & Carrall)

Across Pender from the Sam Kee Building, this one faces two neighbourhoods at once. It was built between 1906 and 1907, probably for the Chee Kung Tong. One source dates it to 1901.

The Pender Street side, facing Chinatown, has traditional Chinese recessed balconies and ironwork. The Carrall Street side, facing Gastown, has a Victorian Italianate facade. Sun Yat Sen is reported to have stayed here, probably in 1911, while raising money for his revolutionary party.

Only the facades are original. They were kept when the rest of the building was demolished in 1975.

Local tip: photograph both sides. The whole point of this corner is the two faces it shows the street.

17. The Hotel Georgia (Georgia & Howe)

The Hotel Georgia is a twelve-storey Georgian Revival luxury hotel, built in 1926 and 1927. With the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Hotel Vancouver, it frames one of downtown’s few open spaces.

A major rehabilitation finished in 2011. Part of that work added a corner blade sign similar to one the hotel had in the 1930s.

It’s at 801 West Georgia, across the street from the art gallery. Local tip: because the new sign follows the 1930s version, a 1930 archive photo and a current one line up neatly. Stand on the gallery side of Georgia to get both the sign and the facade.

16. From Streetcar Terminus to A-maze-ing Laughter (Davie & Denman)

In the streetcar era, the English Bay line was a popular tourist destination. The sightseeing streetcar started here, at Denman and Davie.

The corner is now Morton Park. It holds A-maze-ing Laughter, a sculpture shown in the 2009 to 2011 Vancouver Biennale. It’s made up of 14 patinated cast-bronze figures. Across the corner, Douglas Coupland murals now cover all four sides of The Berkeley tower at 1770 Davie.

It’s a public park at the English Bay end of Davie and Denman. Local tip: look for an archive photo of the streetcar loop and pair it with the laughing figures. Few corners show a bigger change in what people came here to see.

15. Maple Tree Square and the Byrnes Block (Water & Carrall)

Carrall, Powell and Water streets meet here, and it’s as close to a starting point as Vancouver has. A large maple tree once stood in the square. Gassy Jack’s saloon stood here too.

The notice for Vancouver’s first civic election, held May 3, 1886, was posted on that maple. The Byrnes Block behind the square was completed in 1887.

The square has changed again recently. The Gassy Jack statue came down in a community protest in February 2022. The city says it is in storage and will not be reinstalled in Gastown.

It’s at the east end of Water Street. Local tip: the archives hold an 1886 photo of the maple looking south up Carrall Street, which is the best “then” shot here. For your “now,” shoot the square as it stands, without the statue.

14. The Dominion Building (Hastings & Cambie)

Hastings and Cambie was the centre of Vancouver at the turn of the 20th century. The Dominion Building was built to match. Imperial Trust commissioned the Beaux-Arts tower in 1906. It opened in 1910 as the Dominion Trust Building, after that company took on the debt and finished construction.

At 53 metres, it was billed as the tallest building in the British Empire when it was completed. That claim is disputed. The Sun Tower, a short walk away, made the same claim in 1912.

It stands at 207 West Hastings, across the street from Victory Square. Local tip: stand inside Victory Square and look north. The building’s mansard roof sits right above the cenotaph.

13. CPR Waterfront Station (Cordova at Seymour)

The Beaux-Arts station on Cordova was completed in 1914 as the third CPR terminal on the site. The first CPR station in Vancouver was built in 1887 at the foot of Howe Street.

Its life as a long-distance rail station ended by decision, not demolition. In 1979, Via moved its Vancouver passenger operations to the CNR station and stopped using this one. The building stayed. Today it’s Waterfront Station, the SkyTrain and SeaBus stop at 601 West Cordova.

Local tip: use the Cordova Street frontage for your then-and-now pair. The 1914 views were taken from street level, and the building hasn’t moved an inch.

12. The Vancouver Block Clock Tower (Granville near Georgia)

Walk half a block south of Granville and Georgia and look up. The Vancouver Block was built between 1910 and 1912 on the highest point of land in downtown Vancouver. Its clock tower was once considered the largest on the Pacific Coast, with a clock face on each of its four sides.

The fifteen-storey building still stands at 736 Granville Street. Height and location put it in the background of many archive views of this stretch of Granville. That makes it a reliable fixed point when you’re matching an old photo to the street today.

Come after dark, when the clock faces are lit. Local tip: before you shoot your current photo, find the tower in your archive view. Line it up first, and the rest of the frame falls into place.

11. Christ Church Cathedral and the Hotel Vancouver (Burrard & Georgia)

Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest surviving church in Vancouver. It was built between 1889 and 1895 as a small parish church. It stands at Burrard and Georgia, one of downtown’s most prominent intersections.

The church has stayed put while everything around it changed. High-rises have completely altered its surroundings. Across Georgia, the CPR and Canadian National Railway built a new Hotel Vancouver in 1939, and its roofline still anchors this corner.

Local tip: archive views of the small sandstone church against open sky make a sharp contrast with today. Stand in the same spot now and you’re at the bottom of a tower canyon.

10. The Old Courthouse, now the Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia & Hornby)

Before the courthouse, the block bounded by Georgia, Robson, Howe and Hornby was a blank space on the map. Then the city’s second courthouse went up on it. F.M. Rattenbury designed it, and it was completed in 1911.

The courts had moved here from Courthouse Square at Hastings and Cambie, now Victory Square. In 1983, the building became the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The outside is free to look at any time. Gallery admission isn’t covered in this guide, so check with the gallery if you plan to go in. It fills the block between Georgia and Robson, across from the Hotel Georgia.

Local tip: walk this block and Victory Square on the same day. One courthouse site is now a park and the other is an art gallery, and archive photos of each show how different they once looked.

9. The Sun Tower (Pender & Beatty)

When it was finished in 1912, this was the World Building, and it claimed to be the tallest building in the British Empire. The domed tower at Pender and Beatty later passed from the Vancouver World newspaper to the Vancouver Sun. That’s the name it carries now.

The detail to look for sits lower down. Nine Art Nouveau caryatids decorate the building, the work of Charles Marega, Vancouver’s best-known sculptor of the era. They’re carved maidens set below the cornice.

It’s at 128 West Pender, in the Victory Square area. Local tip: stand at Pender and Beatty and look straight up to find all nine. An archive view with the dome against the sky makes an easy pair with a current shot.

8. The Orpheum (Granville & Smithe)

The Orpheum was designed by B. Marcus Priteca and opened in 1927. Parks Canada calls it a good example of a Canadian movie palace. It’s one of the few that survive in relatively unchanged condition.

Its survival took a campaign. In 1973, a push began to turn the theatre into a permanent concert hall. The city bought it for $3.9 million in March 1974. One federal source dates the purchase to 1973. It reopened on April 2, 1977, as the home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

It’s on Granville Street’s Theatre Row, at 884 Granville with a second frontage at 601 Smithe. Local tip: combine it with the Vancouver Block and the Bay corner, all on Granville, for a short walk past three buildings that are still standing.

7. The Sylvia Hotel (Gilford & Beach)

The Sylvia went up in 1912 as a Georgian-style apartment building. It housed Vancouver’s first cocktail bar. Until 1958, it was the tallest building in the West End.

It was designated a heritage building in 1975 and is listed in the “A” category of the Vancouver Heritage Register. It still runs as a heritage hotel with 120 rooms and suites.

It’s at 1154 Gilford Street, one block west of Denman on Beach Avenue. Come in fall, when the vine on the Gilford Street wall changes colour. Local tip: shoot from English Bay beach to catch the hotel in its setting, much as the old views do.

6. The Sam Kee Building (Pender & Carrall)

The Sam Kee Building exists because of a street widening. The city expropriated most of businessman Chang Toy’s property for the project. Chang Toy, also known as Sam Kee, was left with a six-foot lot, roughly 1.8 metres. In 1913 he built on it anyway.

Guinness World Records lists it as the world’s narrowest commercial building. At one time it housed 13 businesses. The basement originally held public baths and extends out beneath the sidewalk.

It’s at 8 West Pender, the western gateway to Chinatown. Local tip: look down. The thick glass blocks in the pavement light that old basement. A 1937 archive photo of this corner is a strong “then” to pair with today’s view.

5. The Gastown Steam Clock (Water & Cambie)

Plenty of visitors assume the steam clock is a Victorian original. It went in in 1977. Local businesses paid Raymond Saunders to install it as part of Gastown’s revival. The City of Vancouver has paid for its operation since.

The reason was practical. It was built to cover a steam vent the city found unsightly. It was also designed to look as if it had stood there for 100 years, and many visitors assume it has.

It whistles on the quarter hour, so time your stop by your phone: in April 2026 the city said its hands had been showing the wrong time since 2025, and it’s not clear they’ve been fixed. It sits at the west end of Water Street, a short walk from Waterfront Station.

Local tip: this is the best “not as old as it looks” corner in the city. Pair any pre-1977 archive view with a current photo. The “then” shot has no clock in it at all.

4. Courthouse Square to Victory Square (Hastings & Cambie)

Before the First World War, this was Courthouse Square. A domed provincial courthouse stood on it. The courthouse was demolished just before the war, and the courts moved to Georgia Street.

After the war, the site became a park. The cenotaph went up in 1924, paid for by public subscription and made of Nelson Island granite. The park was renamed Victory Square when it was added. Courthouse to cenotaph is about as complete a change as any corner gets.

It’s a public park at Hastings and Cambie. For generations, people have gathered at the cenotaph every November for Remembrance Day, so expect crowds around then. This year’s ceremony is Wednesday, November 11, 2026, about 10:30 to 11:30am. Streets around the square close for the ceremony and for the parade on Cambie and Hastings.

Local tip: the courthouse that replaced this one is now the Vancouver Art Gallery, also on this list. Visit both and you’ve seen the old and new courthouse sites.

3. The Birks Clock (Granville & Hastings)

This entry is a clock, not a building, and it has moved around. E. Howard & Co. of Boston built it in 1906. It was first installed at Granville and Hastings, outside a jewellery store.

From 1913 to 1974, meeting at the Birks clock was the standard Vancouver plan for finding someone downtown. The clock stood at Granville and Georgia until 1994. That year Birks moved to the old Bank of Commerce building at 698 West Hastings. The clock now stands about 35 metres from where it started, directly across Hastings Street.

So the honest caption here is “same clock, three corners.” It’s one block south of Waterfront Station along Granville. Local tip: match an early photo of the original Granville and Hastings spot with today’s view from across Hastings. You’ll get both of its Hastings homes in one walk.

2. The Hudson’s Bay Building (Granville & Georgia)

The northeast corner of Granville and West Georgia carried the same store name for most of the city’s life. Hudson’s Bay moved its Vancouver store here in 1893. The first building was red brick. Construction on an expansion began in 1913, and that’s the part you notice now: a white terra cotta face lined with Corinthian columns.

Shoppers and other stores followed the Bay to Granville Street. This corner is still considered the centre of downtown retail. The store closed in 2025. Vancouver-based Onni Group bought the building in a court-approved deal that closed on June 24, 2026. The building’s future use hasn’t been announced.

The building at 674 Granville is listed on the city’s heritage register. You can look at it any time from the sidewalk. It connects directly to SkyTrain’s Granville Station, so it’s the easiest starting point on this list.

Local tip: find an archive view from the 1910s to the 1930s looking up Granville from the north, and stand where that photographer stood. The cream terra cotta columns are the constant in both frames.

1. Woodward’s and the W (Hastings & Abbott)

The Woodward building at Hastings and Abbott was a landmark from its construction in 1903. Its best-known feature was a large revolving “W” sign. For anyone who grew up here, the W meant downtown.

The store stayed open until the Woodward Company went bankrupt in 1993. When the site was redeveloped, the original building from 1903 to 1908 was kept. A replica of the W went back up.

It’s a block from Victory Square, on the edge of Gastown. You can see it any time, but the W is at its best after dark. Local tip: find an archive view looking west along Hastings with the W on the skyline. If the sign is in both frames, you’ve found your spot.

When to go

• Most of these corners work any time, since you’re looking at exteriors from the sidewalk.
• Go after dark for the lit clock faces on the Vancouver Block and the W at Woodward’s.
• At the steam clock, arrive just before the quarter hour to hear it whistle.
• Fall is the time for the Sylvia, when the vine on the Gilford Street wall changes colour.
• Expect crowds at Victory Square around Remembrance Day.

Using City of Vancouver Archives photos

The City of Vancouver Archives had about 80,000 high-resolution photographs available to download as of 2015. All of them are either public domain or City of Vancouver copyright, so you’re free to use them. Under the reproduction policy, there are no restrictions on how you use or reproduce copies of public-domain material.

Check the “Copyright status” field on every record before you post or print anything. Some works may have changed status. Save the photos to your phone before you head out, and note which way each one was facing.

Getting around

• Gastown and Chinatown: the steam clock, Maple Tree Square, Hotel Europe and the two Pender and Carrall buildings sit close together and make a natural walk. Waterfront Station is the closest stop.
• Hastings: the Birks Clock, the old Post Office, the Dominion Building, Victory Square, the Sun Tower and Woodward’s run along and just off Hastings, starting a block south of Waterfront Station at Granville and running east.
• Granville and Georgia: the Bay Building connects to Granville Station. The Vancouver Block, the Orpheum, the Hotel Georgia, the art gallery, Christ Church Cathedral and the 1957 library are all within the downtown grid around it.
• Main Street: Pacific Central Station is next to Main Street-Science World SkyTrain station. The Lee Building is up the hill at Main and Broadway.
• West End: Davie and Denman and the Sylvia Hotel are at English Bay.

Self-guided Chinatown corners

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Chinatown map guide lists the southeast corner of Pender and Carrall as its second stop. That puts you across Carrall Street from the Sam Kee Building and diagonally across the intersection from the Chinese Freemasons Building, so you can carry on from there with more context.

Remembrance Day at Hastings and Cambie

For generations, people have gathered at the cenotaph at Hastings and Cambie every November to honour Canadian military members. The 2026 ceremony is Wednesday, November 11, about 10:30 to 11:30am. Traffic around the square is blocked for the ceremony and for the parade on Cambie and Hastings, so take transit and expect a crowd.

English Bay seawall walk

If you finish at Davie and Denman or the Sylvia, the city has a page on the walk between Sunset Beach and English Bay. It’s an easy way to extend the West End end of the route.

Etiquette and safety

• Stay on the sidewalk when lining up a shot. Several of these corners are busy downtown intersections, so watch the traffic and don’t step into the street for a better angle.
• Hotel Europe is housing, and people live and work along many of these blocks. Keep doorways clear and be respectful when you point a camera.
• Sinclair Centre’s mall is open Monday to Saturday 10am to 5:30pm (closed Sunday). Plan on exteriors only at the old library.
• Go prepared for a long day on foot. Comfortable shoes and a charged phone with your archive photos saved will cover most of it.

Tallest for a while: height claims on this list

Building	Corner	Claim	Year
Dominion Building	Hastings & Cambie	Billed as tallest in the British Empire (disputed)	1910
Sun Tower (World Building)	Pender & Beatty	Claimed tallest in the British Empire	1912
Lee Building	Main & Broadway	Tallest building south of False Creek, at seven storeys	1912
Sylvia Hotel	Gilford & Beach	Tallest building in the West End until 1958	1912

Built as, used as now

Building	Built as	Today
Hudson’s Bay Building	Department store (1893)	Store closed 2025; sold to Onni Group 2026, future use not announced
Old Post Office	Post office (1910)	Sinclair Centre; passport and Service Canada offices closed March 6, 2026
Second courthouse	Courthouse (1911)	Vancouver Art Gallery since 1983
Waterfront Station	CPR terminal (1914)	SkyTrain and SeaBus station
Orpheum	Movie palace (1927)	Concert hall, home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since 1977
750 Burrard	Central library (1957)	Commercial use after the library closed in 1995
Sylvia Hotel	Apartment building (1912)	Heritage hotel with 120 rooms and suites
Woodward’s	Department store (1903)	Redeveloped; original building kept, W sign replicated

The useful thing about a street corner is that it doesn’t move. Buildings come and go, clocks wander across the road, and a maple tree turns into a public square. But the spot where a photographer stood in 1886 or 1912 is still there for you to stand on. Pick one cluster, load a few archive photos, and see how much of the old city you can still line up.

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Photo credits

• Thebay-downtownvancouver.jpg by Arnold C, Attribution (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vancouver Block 03.JPG by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Birks Cdn Bank of Commerce Vancouver.jpg by Canadian2006, CC BY-SA 3.0 (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• WinchBuilding.jpg by No machine-readable author provided. Bobanny assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain (combined into a montage, cropped). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Woodward’s Building Sign Hastings St. Vancouver.jpg by Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized; cropped for the featured image). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Dominion Building Vancouver 09.JPG by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• VictorySquare 1932.jpg by Unknown photographer, Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• SunTowerDetail.jpg by Bobanny, Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Gastown-10.JPG by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Dunn Block and Alexander Street.jpg by Ymblanter, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Europe Hotel 03.jpg by Xiao23, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Sam Kee Building, 16 May 2024.jpg by 李月文, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Gateway to the Silk Road (513099298).jpg by Mike from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Waterfront Station Vancouver 01.JPG by Xicotencatl, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vancouver Hotel Georgia 2011.jpg by Canadian2006, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vancouver Art Gallery Robson Square from third floor.jpg by unknown, Public domain (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vancouver Library Burrard Street.jpg by Canadian2006, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Vancouver – Christ Church Cathedral 02.jpg by Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Orpheum Theatre Vancouver View Of Wurlitzer.jpg by MichaelThoeny, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Lee Building Vancouver.JPG by Canadian2006, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Pacific Central Station Vancouver BC.jpg by Zheng Zhou, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• A-maze-ing laughter clouds (rev).jpg by PamMcP, CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Sylvia hotel vancouver.jpg by Usgnus, CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized). Via Wikimedia Commons.