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This Day in History, 1929: The Royal Bank goes art deco in Vancouver

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On March 13, 1929 , construction began on one of Vancouver ’s most-famed art deco towers, the Marine Building .

By the time the building opened on Oct. 9, 1930 , the world had entered the Great Depression , and the company that built it went bust.

The $1.75 million building opened June 8, 1931 and was hailed as “a memorial to the progressive spirit of the city”.

“The new building up the side grabs onto the old building and builds a new core to pull it back to it, so they shift the centre of gravity towards the new building,” said Luxton . “As each floor is vacated, they’re putting in drag struts into the concrete and pull the old building back to the new building, so they don’t have to do anything between the floors. It’s really quite remarkable.”.