Begun in the spring of 1929, it was lucky the Marine Building was built at all - the Wall Street Crash midway through construction nearly ended the project. The project did continue however, and when it was complete at a cost of $2.3 million ($1.1 million over budget) the Marine Building was the talk of the town.
	The man responsible for its construction was Lt. Commander J. W. Hobbs, a Toronto entrepreneur. 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. He decided that Vancouver's marine related businesses needed offices near the waterfront with close access to the immigration buildings, the customs houses, the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian National Steamship terminals. Hobbs dreamed of a New York style skyscraper in downtown Vancouver, a building that would put the city on the international shipping map. What he 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 the tower spectacular views of the harbour and the North Shore mountains. Hobbs hires a local firm, McCarter and Nairne, to create his vision. Inspired by New York's Chrysler Building, they were excited at the chance to create a dazzling Art Deco showpiece. Nairne wanted the design to express the various businesses housed within its walls; firms engaged in shipping, lumber, mining, insurance and the import and export trade. Hobbs told Nairne "the sky's the limit" and Nairne took him at his word. He envisioned the lobby as a cavernous Mayan temple. Junior architects designed a dizzying array of sea creatures - snails, skate, crabs, turtles, carp, scallops, seaweed and sea horses can all be found on the walls and polished brass doors. They even represent the numerals on a large wall clock. Transportation was also an important theme, so Nairne had his teams produce designs of trains, ships, automobiles and aircraft including zepplins. Vancouver's position as a sea and rail connection was represented by ships and speeding trains, while stained glass over the entrance way paid tribute to Captain Vancouver with a ship on the horizon. The Marine Building is a twenty-two storey concrete structure. It was purchased by the Guiness family in 1933 for a mere $900,000. Very little maintenance was done to the exterior up until the 1970's. The most severe damage occurred during World War II when a munitions ship blew up in the harbour, blowing out the North side windows and causing cracks in the masonry. Water ingress since then rusted the angle-iron lintels, causing oxide jacking which crushed the bricks. As expansion joints were not used in this era, someone in the 1970's attempted to repair the terra cotta with caulking. This type of repair did irreparable damage to the terra cotta. Over a three-year period McLeod Masonry repaired the terra cotta, including extensive rebuilding and reglazing. The crushed brick was removed and angle irons replaced to reestablish the integrity of the building. Over the last ten years, upwards of $20 million has been spent to restore the interior and exterior of the building. Once the only office tower in the area, the Marine Building now stands at the city's downtown core. to top