Marine Building | Archives and Special Collections

Marine Building – Archives and Special Collections

The Glenbow Western Research Centre is open by appointment only. Please visit https://asc.ucalgary.ca/contact/ to book an appointment.

Marine Building

One of the great Art Deco buildings of the world, the Marine Building stands 21 floors high on the corner of Burrard and Hastings streets in downtown Vancouver.

Built over 16 months beginning in the Spring of 1929, the building is covered in intricately carved marine life, exotic wood inlays, and according to the architects, meant to reflect “some great crag rising from the sea, clinging with sea flora and fauna, tinted in sea-green, and touched with gold.”

The Canadian Architectural Archives holds 390 architectural prints, two mounted watercolour drawings, 273 leaves of manuscript, as well as one twenty-page promotional brochure related to the Marine Building Project. A selection of the total holdings has been digitized and can be viewed below.

View digitized Marine Building material