Hotel Europe is a six-story heritage, NYC flatiron style, building that overlooks Gastown’s lively Maple Tree Square. The building was commissioned by hotelier Angelo Calori and built in 1908-1909 by Parr and Fee Architects.
I painted this winter, late morning, view in 1991. The building was still looking clean and fresh after it’s recent renovation for Expo 86.
In my first year at Emily Carr College of Art in 1980, the part of the school that offered the first year Foundation Program was located at 21 Water Street, just a head turn to the left from this scene. Myself and other students used to eat our brown bagged lunches in the pub that used to occupy the ground floor of the Hotel Europe. It was truly a dive bar, but it had cheap beer, even back then—60¢ a glass.