Robson and Howe Streets

There are two iconic landmarks in this photo: the Vancouver Law Courts in the foreground (now the Vancouver Art Gallery), and the towering Hotel Vancouver, in its second incarnation.
The first Hotel Vancouver was located at Granville and Georgia. The one in this photograph was built in 1916 at an astounding cost of over $3 million, the most expensive building the City had ever seen. At the time it was one of the grandest hotels in the British Empire. It closed in 1939 (when the current Hotel Vancouver opened) and was demolished in 1949, its remaining years spent as an army barracks and veteran housing. (1917 photo from City of Vancouver Archives).