Seahorses flank the clock at the entrance of Vancouver’s Marine Building.
Opened in 1930 at 355 Burrard Street, the Marine Building is one of Vancouver’s best-known Art Deco landmarks. Designed by John McCarter and George Nairne, it uses an ocean theme throughout its exterior and interior, reflecting Vancouver’s maritime identity and its role as a major Pacific port.
The entrance and lobby include carved and inlaid marine imagery such as seahorses, crabs, starfish, lobsters, prawns, seaweed, ships, and birds. The lobby clock is especially memorable because sea creatures replace conventional numerals: a starfish, crab, and other marine forms mark the positions around the face.
Turtles and other creatures do appear elsewhere in the building’s decorative program, which makes them tempting distractors. But the paired creatures associated with the entrance clock are seahorses. The building also incorporates images of 1920s transportation, including trains, biplanes, steamships, and a zeppelin.