Century House Restaurant & Bar

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Century Restaurant and Bar is housed in the ‘Century House’ heritage building in Vancouver, British Columbia which was built as a bank in 1911. The building’s classic turn-of-the–century design is what inspired the Latin theme. Classic features such as barrel vaulted ceilings, original Victorian chandeliers, and a marble staircase are mixed with leather suede banquets, modern stained glass light fixtures, and a stylish bar. What was once the old vault room is now an intimate private VIP room. The menu is describes as ‘bringing Latin ingredient to a contemporary French table’. Each dish is rich with flavor, with every flavor accentuating each other. The menu offers the choice of a half or full sized portion, allowing for the customer to experience a variety of main dishes. Century is one of the few spots in Vancouver to offer a restaurant and bar lounge under one roof.

Century Restaurant, a view of the bar.

Mural of Che Guevara

The building is located at 432 Richards Street in Downtown Vancouver. It is steps away from Waterfront Station, a major transit hub which serves as the Downtown Vancouver terminal for various TransLink operations such as SeaBus, West Coast Express, SkyTrain and buses.

Century House was built in 1911 for the Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation. The building was designed by J.S.D. Taylor, a Scottish architect. Canada Permanent operated at Century House until 1951. Since then, it has been home to an insurance company, a trade school, an antique store, a restaurant and a book store. Century House is a Class A heritage building.

The whole exterior is solid granite, except for two beavers and lighthouse (not a medievil tower) cast in concrete which crown the buildings.

Since then the location has seen its fair share of transformations. The location’s pedigree is unparalleled, having hosted Vancouver’s best restaurant (as voted by Vancouver Magazine) not once, but twice. Both times, the city has made this location the hottest restaurant in the city.

[edit] Paranormal

Rumour has it that the ‘Century House’ is haunted by a ghost. As the story goes, in the early 1900s there was a bank robbery were a young bank teller was killed. It is told that her spirit resides at Century and not only have many people felt her presence, but some have also heard her.