Harbour Centre
Encyclopedia
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...
of Downtown Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The "Lookout" tower atop the office building makes it one of the tallest structures in Vancouver and a prominent landmark
Landmark
This is a list of landmarks around the world.Landmarks may be split into two categories - natural phenomena and man-made features, like buildings, bridges, statues, public squares and so forth...
on the city's skyline. With its 360-degree viewing deck, it also serves as a tourist attraction, offering a physically unobstructed view of the city. During the dot-com boom of the 1990s, it served as the headquarters for several up and coming tech firms, including Stormix
Stormix
Stormix was a company that debuted its Debian-based Linux distribution with "Storm Linux 2000" in late 1999. Headquartered in the Harbour Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Stormix was an off-shoot of NetNation Communications, at the time, one of the top-ten web hosting companies...
Technologies, NetNation and others. Harbour Centre opened in 1977.
Designed by WZMH Architects
WZMH Architects
WZMH Architects is an architecture company based in Toronto, Canada. The firm was founded in 1961, and is known for the design of landmark structures, skyscrapers, major mixed use, commercial, institutional, residential and hospitality projects, as well as renovation and retrofit projects...
, the building is listed as being 28 stories tall, though the tower/observation deck extends above the 28 office floors (claimed to be approximately 44 stories in total). There is some disagreement as to the buildings height. According to the Vancouver Lookout's website the observation deck is 168 m (551.2 ft) above the 'street level'. The CTBUH however lists the buildings architectural height as actually being 147 m (482.3 ft). Furthermore Skyscraperpage lists the buildings height to the roof as being only 139.6 m (458 ft). This is stated to be the height from the Hastings Street entrance while the height from the back entrance on Cordova Street is 146 m (479 ft). It also lists the buildings pinnacle height to the tip of the antenna as being 170.1 m (558.1 ft).
In any event it remains one of the tallest office buildings in the city. The building was British Columbia's tallest measured by pinnacle height until the construction of Shangri La in 2009.
Harbour Centre is located at 555 West Hastings Street in Downtown Vancouver. It is steps away from Waterfront Station
Waterfront Station (Vancouver)
Waterfront Station is a major intermodal public transportation facility and the main transit terminus in Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.-Location:...
, a major multi-modal transit hub which serves as the Downtown Vancouver terminal for various TransLink operations including SeaBus
SeaBus
The SeaBus is a passenger-only ferry service in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It crosses Burrard Inlet to connect the cities of Vancouver and North Vancouver. The SeaBus is owned and operated by the Coast Mountain Bus Company and is an important part of TransLink's integrated public...
, West Coast Express
West Coast Express
West Coast Express is the interregional commuter railway in British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, it links Mission, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, and Port Moody with Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver, where it interchanges with SkyTrain rapid transit, SeaBus and...
, SkyTrain
SkyTrain (Vancouver)
SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks, running mostly on elevated guideways, which helps SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability...
, Canada Line
Canada Line
Canada Line is a rapid transit line in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada. Opened in August 2009, it is the third line in TransLink's SkyTrain metro network, servicing Vancouver, Richmond, and the Vancouver International Airport...
and buses.
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
operates its downtown Harbour Centre campus in the adjoining Spencer building and houses the Center for Dialogue and Canadas World. The Consulate General of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
is also a major tenant at the building.
The downtown Simpsons-Sears
Sears Canada
Sears Canada Inc. is a retailer, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, that operates in all provinces and territories across Canada with a network of 196 corporate stores, 195 dealer stores, 38 home improvement showrooms, 108 Sears Travel offices and a nationwide home maintenance, repair, and...
department store was located here before it closed in the 1980s. There is also a red Christmas tree on the spire that lights up during the holiday season.
Vancouver Coast Guard
Canadian Coast Guard
The Canadian Coast Guard is the coast guard of Canada. It is a federal agency responsible for providing maritime search and rescue , aids to navigation, marine pollution response, marine radio, and icebreaking...
Radio operates from Harbour Centre, providing distress watch and vessel traffic services to the North Arm Fraser River, Burrard Inlet, Indian Arm, English Bay and Howe Sound.
Tourist attraction
The Vancouver Lookout tourist attraction, located atop the Harbour Centre business building, was officially opened on August 13, 1977 by Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
, whose footprint was imprinted onto cement and today is on display on the viewing/observation deck. Glass elevators whisk visitors 168 meters (553 feet) skyward from street level to the Observation Deck in 40 seconds.
In television and film
- Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? - A group of young teenage girls ride the famous glass elevator to the top to dine at the fictional "Above the Clouds" restaurant and the elevator breaks down. (S04E13 - "Above the Clouds")
See also
- List of tallest buildings in Vancouver
- Lighthouse of AlexandriaLighthouse of AlexandriaThe Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria , was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt...
, a possible influence on design.