Vancouver's most romantic old-school tower block, and also its best art-deco building, the elegant 22-story Marine Building is a tribute to the city's maritime past. Check out its elaborate exterior of seahorses, lobsters and streamlined steamships, then nip into the lobby, which is like a walk-through artwork. Stained-glass panels and a polished floor inlaid with signs of the zodiac await.

　　Also check out the inlaid-wood interiors of the brass-doored elevators. The Marine Building was the tallest building in the British Empire when it was completed in 1930 and it's said to have bankrupted its original owners. It now houses offices.