Electra Building (Vancouver)

The Electra Building in Vancouver, British Columbia was built in 1957 as the new headquarters for the BC Electric Company, under its president Dal Grauer. A few days after Grauer's death in 1961, it became part of a new provincial crown corporation named BC Hydro. The 21 story, 89 m (293 ft), building was designed by architect, Ronald Thom. At the time it was claimed to be the tallest building in the Commonwealth, although this was not true. After BC Hydro moved to new offices in Vancouver and Burnaby in the late 1990s, the building was sold, and in 1998, was renovated and converted primarily into residential condo space.

Trivia

• For many years the corporation left all the lights on to create a city icon.
• While BC Electric's offices were in the building a horn on top of the structure played the first four notes of O Canada at noon every day. This horn has since moved to Canada Place.
• The lower floors of the building are covered in tiled mosaic conceived of by B.C. Binning.
• On September 18, 2010 the building was evacuated due to a chemical spill after workers from True North Concrete injected a chemical foam under the floor to raise some of the building's sunken tiles. While firefighters were called to the building four times between September 16th and September 18th in response to reports of noxious fumes, it is only on the fourth visit (after the fumes escalated into flames) that residents were prohibited from remaining in their suites, the HazMat team was called in, and Nelson Street below was closed to traffic. Residents were cleared to return to their homes on September 23, 2010.

References

• Emporis facts about the Electra building
• City of Vancouver Press Release concerning Chemical Spill
• Article on the Electra spill in The Province, September 21, 2010

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Vancouver