This sign at the Comox Dam Recreation Area twigged a few memories, including the huge BC Hydro H symbol on the headquarters building at 989 Nelson Street at Burrard in Vancouver, British Columbia , and the horns that sounded the first four notes of O Canada everyday at noon.
BC Hydro’s home was the Electra Building, built in 1957 as the new headquarters for the BC Electric Company, under its president Dal Grauer. A few days after Grauer’s death in 1961, it became part of a new provincial crown corporation named BC Hydro. The 21 story, 89 m (293 ft), building was designed by architect, Ronald Thom.
The horns were built as a BC Hydro Canadian Centennial project in 1967 and were designed by engineer and sound specialist, Robert Swanson. For many years, they were positioned on the roof of the original BC Hydro Building where they sounded every high noon in the downtown core for more than 20 years. When BC Hydro vacated the building in the 1990s, the horns fell silent.
Canada Place Corporation acquired and refurbished the horns, and placed them on the roof of the Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada Place. On November 8th of 1994, the familiar sounding of the horns returned to Vancouver at noon.
The stylized H logo was designed in 1962 by Ted Bethune, of Cockfield Brown and Co. You can view the original press release from 1962, as supplied by Patricia Crawford at BC Hydro in response to a query by me about the logo.
Thank you Pat – thank you BC Hydro…
