It all started with Lt. Commander J.W. Hobbs, an entrepreneur who worked for a Toronto bond trading house. After the Panama Canal was built in 1915, Hobbs realized Vancouver had the potential to become a major west coast port—a sea route to Europe as well as a gateway to the Orient. Hobbs dreamed of a New York-style skyscraper in downtown Vancouver—a great crag of a building, clinging with flora and fauna, tinted in sea-green and touched with gold, rising from the sea—a building that would put Vancouver on the international shipping map.

What Hobbs achieved is one of the world's great masterpieces of Art Deco architecture. He found a site at the foot of Burrard Street that would give his tower spectacular views of the harbour and North Shore mountains. Hobbs hired a local firm, McCarter and Nairne, to create his vision. McCarter (the engineer), jumped at the chance to design his first skyscraper. Nairne (the architect), took up the challenge with similar gusto. Inspired by New York's Chrysler Building, he was excited at the chance to create his own dazzling Art Deco showpiece.

Hobbs told Nairne "the sky's the limit" and Nairne took him at his word. He envisioned the lobby as a cavernous Mayan temple, filled to the brim with treasures. Junior architects designed a dizzying array of sea creatures. Snails, skate, crabs, turtles, carp, scallops, seaweed and sea horses swam and frolicked over the walls and polished brass doors— they even represented the numerals on a large wall clock.

Vancouver's position as a sea and rail connection was represented by ships and speeding trains. Stained glass over the entrance-way paid tribute to Captain George Vancouver with a ship on the horizon. One panel depicts a rising sun, the other, a sunset.

When it opened in 1930, at a cost of $2.3 million ($1.1 million over budget), the Marine Building was the talk of the town. Uniformed doormen stood by massive brass doors opening onto the dazzling lobby and sailor-suited women waited to escort passengers in five high-speed elevators, the walls of which were inlaid with 12 varieties of British Columbia hardwoods. It was by far the most glamorous structure many visitors had seen in their lives.

Over the last fifteen years, upwards of $30 million has been spent to restore the building to its original glory. Once the only office tower in the area, the Marine Building now stands at the centre of the city's downtown core reminding us what a dreamer can achieve. Hobbs would have been proud.

The Marine Building, Vancouver's finest example of art deco architecture, is located in downtown Vancouver, close to the waterfront and the cruise ships, the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, Pan Pacific and Waterfront Centre Hotels, as well as public transportation links via bus, SkyTrain, West Coast Express and the SeaBus.