Vancouver is the most populous city in the Canadian province of British Columbia and has roughly 650 high-rise buildings that equal or exceed 35 m, and roughly 50 buildings that equal or exceed 100 metres (328 ft). Almost all of the city's buildings that exceed 100 metres in height are located within Downtown Vancouver. Vancouver's population density is the fourth highest in North America and the city has more residential high-rises per capita than any other city on the continent. The city has 27 protected view corridors which limit the construction of tall buildings which interfere with the line of sight to the North Shore Mountains, the downtown skyline, and the waters of English Bay and the Strait of Georgia. The tallest building in Vancouver is the 62-storey, 201 m Living Shangri-La; the building represents the city's efforts to add visual interest into Vancouver's skyline. The recently completed Paradox Hotel Vancouver, also known as Vancouver's Turn, is now the city's second tallest building, at 188 metres (616 ft). The Private Residences at Hotel Georgia, completed in 2012 at 157 m and 48 stories, is currently the third-tallest in the city. One Wall Centre, at 150 m tall, with 48 storeys, is currently the city's fourth tallest building. One Wall Centre has the distinction of being the first building in the world to use a tuned liquid column damper to control wind vibrations.

History

Vancouver's history of skyscrapers began with the Dominion Building (1909), the Sun Tower (1911) (originally named the World Tower, then the News-Advertiser Tower, after the newspaper it was home to in each case), the Vancouver Block (1912), the second Hotel Vancouver (1916) and the Marine Building (1929). The third Hotel Vancouver was completed in 1939 at 111 m tall, and was the first building in the city to have stood taller than 100 m (328 ft). Building construction remained slow in the city until the late 1960s, other than the completion of the new BC Electric headquarters (soon renamed BC Hydro headquarters, and today the Electra condominiums). From 1968 to 1981, Vancouver witnessed a major expansion of skyscraper and high-rise construction. Many of the city's office towers were completed during this period, such as the Harbour Centre, Bentall Centre, Royal Centre, Granville Square and Pacific Centre office tower/mall complexes. A ten-year lull in building construction came after the expansion, though Vancouver experienced a larger second building expansion beginning in 1991 and continuing into the present. In the last two decades Vancouver's pioneering urbanism, with its density and innovative developments, has been emulated by major cities throughout the world. As part of the city's push for liveable high-density areas (called Vancouverism by planning theorists), many mixed-use and residential buildings were built, such as Concord Pacific Place, the largest master-planned residential complex in North America. One Wall Centre and Living Shangri-La were the city's first buildings to break the 150 m and 200 m marks, respectively. While highrise development outside of the downtown core had been nearly nonexistent due to zoning restrictions and view cones, recent transit oriented developments like Marine Gateway and the upcoming Oakridge Park are centered around Canada line stations of the Skytrain, Metro Vancouver's light metro system, in order to increase residential density and reduce car reliance. They will have the tallest building heights outside of Downtown Vancouver.

Tallest buildings

This list ranks buildings in Vancouver that stand at least 100 m (328 ft) tall, based on CTBUH height measurement standards. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. An equal sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings.

• Indicates buildings that are still under construction but have been topped out. = Indicates buildings that have the same rank because they have the same height.

Tallest proposed and under construction

Under construction

This table lists skyscrapers that are under construction in Vancouver that will rise over 100 m tall.

Approved and Proposed

This table lists approved and proposed skyscrapers in Vancouver that are planned to rise over 100 m tall.

Tallest demolished

This table lists buildings in Vancouver that were demolished or destroyed and at one time stood at least 100 m in height.

Timeline of tallest buildings

This is a list of buildings that in the past held the title of tallest building in Vancouver.