Harbour Centre
Harbour Centre is a notable skyscraper in the central business district of Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The "Lookout" tower atop the office building makes it one of the tallest structures in Vancouver and a prominent landmark on the city's skyline. With its 360-degree viewing deck, it also serves as a tourist attraction with the Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant, 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 Technologies, NetNation and others. Harbour Centre opened in 1977.
Designed by WZMH Architects, 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 building's height. According to the Vancouver Lookout's website the observation deck is 168 m (551 ft) above the 'street level'. The CTBUH however lists the buildings architectural height as actually being 147 m (482 ft).[1] Furthermore Skyscraperpage lists the buildings height to the roof as being only 139.6 m (458 ft).[2] 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 ft).[2]
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 Living Shangri-La in 2009.
Harbour Centre is located at 555 West Hastings Street in Downtown Vancouver. It is steps away from Waterfront Station, a major multi-modal transit hub which serves as the Downtown Vancouver terminal for various TransLink operations including SeaBus, West Coast Express, SkyTrain, Canada Line and buses.
Simon Fraser University operates its downtown Harbour Centre campus in the adjoining Spencer building and houses the Center for Dialogue and Canadas World.
The downtown Simpsons-Sears department store was located here before it closed in 1987. There is also a red Santa hat on the spire that lights up during the holiday season.
Vancouver Coast Guard 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 Armstrong, whose footprint was imprinted onto cement and was on display on the viewing/observation deck until it was lost (or stolen) during renovations. 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")
Harbour Centre can be seen in the Arrow episode "Dark Waters"
Gallery
Harbour Centre, as seen from Waterfront Station downtown.
From the Burrard Inlet.
At night.
From Dunsmuir Street.
From Victory Square.
From Water Street in Winter.
See also
- List of tallest buildings in Vancouver
- Lighthouse of Alexandria, a possible influence on design.
References
- ↑ Harbour Centre Facts | CTBUH Skyscraper Database. Skyscrapercenter.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
- 1 2 Harbour Centre, Vancouver. SkyscraperPage.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.
External links
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Coordinates: 49°17′05″N 123°06′44″W / 49.2846°N 123.1123°W