We've seen this hotel, off in the distance of a post we wrote five years ago. The Sheraton Landmark Hotel was opened in 1974, (a year later than scheduled after the elevators couldn't be installed, due to a strike), designed by Bill Lort of Lort and Lort, and it eventually cost developer Ben Wosk $12m to build. The highlight of the building was the Cloud Nine restaurant, the outer edge of which revolved once an hour, powered by a 1/4 hp electric motor. In 1970 the budget was estimated to be between $6m and $8m, and Wosk was going to carry out the construction with an in-house team. This was, at the time, the tallest building in the city, and the narrowest 40+ storey tower in Canada. Ben completed the Plaza 500 hotel on West 12th, near City Hall, in 1971, and also owned the Villa Hotel in Burnaby. In 1974 Wosk's added the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel to their portfolio, and in 1981 built the Sheraton Airport.
Ben and his brother Morris also had owned the Blue Horizon, also on Robson, that had been developed in the 1960s. The brothers fell out and their property and furniture empire (that they had run since 1932) was split in 1968, with Morris continuing to sell furniture as well as being a developer, while Morris retained a portfolio of apartments, as well as the Blue Boy and Blue Horizon hotels.
The Landmark was taller than Morris's tower, with a concrete, brutalist aesthetic. It also had external lighting, contrary to its development permit, and while the sign on the top was allowed to remain, the lights had to come off after residents nearby complained. While the restaurant and the upper floors of the hotel had to wait for the elevators to be completed, the lower 8 floors and the beer parlour opened in 1973. Customers had to carry their bags up to eight flights, but the room rates were good. There was a restaurant, bar, and conference facilities (that were altered in 1977).
The beer parlour lost a waiter only a few months after opening, when Garry Galvin was shot by Clifford Massey in the bar. Using a shotgun, he shot Galvin in the legs after Galvin, who also worked as a bouncer in a bar in Point Roberts, had beaten up Massey's brother on the previous night.
In 1976 there was a fire that sent 25 guests to hospital with smoke inhalation. Thought to have started in a linen closet, the fire spread because there was no requirement for the hotel to have sprinklers. In 1987 Maynards were selling off beds, headboards and bedside cabinets as the hotel received a makeover. Needless to say, Wosk's had provided the hotel's furniture when it opened. Ben Wosk, who had been born in Russia, died in 1995, aged 81, and his younger brother Morris at 84, in 2002.
The Hotel became the Empire Landmark in 1997, when it was bought for $59.9m by Asia Standard Group of Hong Kong. In 1998 the new owners added a brighter neon halo at the top of the hotel, once again creating consternation in the West End. The lobby was renovated in 2000, and in 2002 two Washington men were charged with mischief after jumping with parachutes from the 40th floor. "One landed safely while the other landed on the roof of the apartment building behind the hotel, rolled off the roof and hit a parked car. A pickup truck arrived and the trio tried to flee in it but they were stopped by police who were alerted by a resident in a Haro Street highrise."
Our 'before' picture was taken in 2016, the year that Asia Standard announced they were planning to redevelop the site, having operated the hotel for nearly 20 years. They hired PDP London Architects, interior designer Atelier Ikebuchi, along with Vancouver-based Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership. The two residential towers that have just been completed were not a rezoning, so there was no Council involvement in approving the project. There are 83 social housing units (owned by the City of Vancouver) on the lane, strata units in the towers and office space above retail in the podium on Robson.
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