Harbour Centre

The downtown Simpsons-Sears department store was located here before it closed in 1987.

During the dot-com boom of the 1990s, it served as the headquarters for several tech firms, including Stormix Technologies, NetNation and others.

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 40 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).[2] Furthermore, Skyscraperpage lists the buildings height to the roof as being only 139.6 m (458 ft).[3] 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 177.1 m (581 ft).[3]

The building was British Columbia's tallest measured by pinnacle height until the construction of Living Shangri-La in 2009.

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 disappearing during renovations. Glass elevators whisk visitors 168 meters (553 feet) skyward from street level to the Observation Deck in 40 seconds.

In 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 also be seen in the Arrow episode "Dark Waters". The Harbour Centre is visible in the background along with the rest of the downtown Vancouver skyline at the beginning of The X-Files episode "2Shy". This building was also filmed in some episodes from the original MacGyver TV series in and around Vancouver. This building also had some shots from the TV Series Danger Bay. There were also some shots from the Schwarzenegger film The 6th Day and the film Blade: Trinity. In The NeverEnding Story (film), Building is seen in closing scene, when Bastian is flying with Falkor, to get some revenge over the kids.

• 
  Detail of the Vancouver Lookout.
• 
  Vancouver Lookout Lobby
• 
  Vancouver Lookout

• List of tallest buildings in Vancouver
• Lighthouse of Alexandria, a possible influence on design.

• Harbour Centre (business building site)
• Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harbour Centre, Vancouver.

49.2846°N 123.1123°W / 49.2846; -123.1123 (Harbour Centre)