Waterfront Station

Waterfront Station at 601 West Cordova Street in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, is a Beaux-Arts building completed in 1914 as the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It replaced earlier CPR stations, the first of which had welcomed the first transcontinental passenger train in 1887. The architects were Barott, Blackader and Webster of Montreal, and the building was designed to project the railway's wealth and the importance of the Pacific terminus. It has a grand classical facade with Ionic columns, a high coffered ceiling in the main hall, and a marble interior. Inside the hall, a series of large paintings of Canadian landscapes, installed around the upper walls in the 1910s, depict scenes along the CPR route, reminding visitors of the railway's role in tourism and settlement. Long-distance passenger service through the station declined in the 20th century. The building was renovated as a transit hub for the SeaBus, introduced in 1977, and later for the SkyTrain and the West Coast Express commuter rail. It is recognised as a National Historic Site of Canada. The station sits at the foot of the original city and is close to Gastown, the Convention Centre and Canada Place, and the SeaBus connects it to North Vancouver across Burrard Inlet. Restoration work has retained the main hall and exterior, though modern transit facilities have been fitted into the building, and the site is a working station rather than a museum. Visitors can walk through for free to see the hall and paintings, which takes about 15 to 20 minutes.