Empire Landmark Hotel

The Empire Landmark Hotel, often referred to by its original name, the Sheraton Landmark, was the tallest hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was located on one of Vancouver's busiest thoroughfares at 1400 Robson Street, in the West End of Downtown Vancouver. The building was revolutionary at the time, as it had a revolving restaurant on its top floor, Cloud 9, which was one of only two revolving restaurants in Vancouver, the other being the Harbour Centre. Between its completion in 1973 and the completion of nearby Bentall Centre in 1974, the Empire Landmark Hotel was the third tallest building in Vancouver.

Empire Landmark Hotel
General information
StatusDemolished
TypeHotel
Architectural styleModern, Brutalism
LocationVancouver, British Columbia
Coordinates49°17′17″N 123°07′51″W
OpeningJanuary 18, 1974
ClosedSeptember 30, 2017
DemolishedMarch 2018-May 2019
Height
Architectural120.1 m (394.0 ft)
Technical details
Floor count42
Design and construction
Architect(s)Lort and Lort
DeveloperBen Wosk
Main contractorSmith Brothers and Wilson
Other information
Number of rooms357
Number of restaurants1
Website
Official Site

The skyscraper is the tallest voluntarily demolished building in Canada, overtaking the 88 m (289 ft) tall Old Toronto Star Building that was demolished in 1972.

History

The Sheraton-Landmark Hotel was designed in the then-popular brutalist style by architect Ross Lort and built by Vancouver businessman Ben Wosk, at a cost of $12 million,[1] by the oldest construction company on the West Coast, Smith Bros. & Wilson. Upon completion in 1973, it was the third tallest building in Vancouver at 120.1 m (394 ft) and 42 storeys tall. It was also the tallest building in Vancouver completely devoted to use as a hotel. The hotel had a soft opening in late 1973, its grand opening was held on 18 January 1974.[2]

The hotel suffered a fire in 1976 that sent 25 people to the hospital. Wosk sold the Sheraton Landmark, along with two other local Sheratons he owned (the Sheraton Plaza 500 and the Sheraton Villa Inn in Burnaby) to the Dallas-based Southmark Corp. in 1986 for $48.5 million. Southmark sold the three hotels to Los Angeles-based Daniel Lee two years later, for $82 million. Lee lost the Sheraton Landmark to his creditors, and they sold it to Hong Kong-based Asia Standard International Group in 1997 for $57.75 million. The new owners dropped the Sheraton franchise and renamed the hotel the Empire Landmark Hotel.[3]

Demolition
Demolition progress on 19 April 2019.

Due to economic pressures as a result of rising property values within downtown Vancouver,[4] combined with the building's historically unpopular brutalist architecture[5] and relatively small floor space being prohibitive to redevelopment of the original tower into anything but another hotel,[6] it was decided to demolish the Empire Landmark Hotel and redevelop the site.

The hotel and its restaurant closed on September 30, 2017 and the building was demolished, floor by floor, over a period of over a year, beginning in March 2018 and ending in May 2019.[7]

The building will be replaced by two shorter condominium towers, at 31 and 32 storeys, with 237 market condos, 63 social housing units, and retail and office space on the bottom three floors.[8] The development is called Landmark On Robson and is said to help "breathe new life into the neighbourhood".[9]

See also

References
  1. "Downtown Vancouver Landmark prepares to stop its slow spin".
  2. "Downtown Vancouver Landmark prepares to stop its slow spin".
  3. "Downtown Vancouver Landmark prepares to stop its slow spin".
  4. Stiem, Tyler (2017-09-27). "'We stand to wipe out a whole era': how the 1970s could vanish from Vancouver". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
  5. Eldredge, Barbara (2017-09-28). "Brutalist landmark in Vancouver set to be demolished for luxury apartment towers". Curbed. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
  6. Griffin, Kevin (2018-07-07). "Vancouver: Empire Landmark Hotel being slowly erased from city skyline". Retrieved 2019-08-25.
  7. Mooney, Harrison (February 28, 2018). "Vancouver's Empire Landmark Hotel begins 'quiet' demolition in March". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  8. "Vancouver's Empire Landmark hotel gets ready to say goodbye | CBC News".
  9. "Demolition Continues at Landmark on Robson | SkyriseVancouver". vancouver.skyrisecities.com. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
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