Eleven months after construction began on a new city hall at the northeast corner of 12th Avenue and Cambie Street, the final nail was hammered into place. The new twelve-storey building, designed by local architectural firm Townley, Matheson and Partners, became the first city hall in the country to not be located in the downtown core.
Between 1897 and 1929, city hall was located on Main Street, just south of the what is now the Carnegie Community Centre, before relocating to the Holden Building (now called Tellier Tower) at 16 East Hastings St .
After being elected mayor in 1934, Gerry McGeer appointed a three-man committee to select the location for a new city hall and the new spot was chosen in part to be more central after the amalgamation five years earlier of the formerly separate municipalities of Point Grey, Vancouver and South Vancouver.
An eight-foot statue of Capt. George Vancouver, carved by Charles Marega, in the front of the building was unveiled a few months earlier by the visiting mayor of London.
After winning the civic election a week later, George Miller became the first mayor to occupy the building.
A four-storey east wing was added in 1968. The building was declared a Schedule A heritage building in 1976.
