Meet Fairmont Vancouver

Some of Canadas most romantic features are the grand hotels that were developed across the country by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Every detail imagined represents the best in design ingenuity for their time and created icons of hospitality. The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is part of this hospitality legacy that is a treasured part of Canada's heritage and identity.

The Fairmont was one of the first of these luxury railway hotels and is considered to be the Grand Dame of Vancouver hotels. The Panorama Roof atop the Fairmont was once the hot spot of Vancouver society, frequented by celebrities such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny.

2014 ushered in a new era for the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver with a renovation that featured Notch 8 Restaurant & Bar – a gathering place where locals and travelers come together.  The restaurant embodies the timeless qualities of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver’s stature as a hospitality icon.

The restaurant was designed as an homage to the bygone days of luxury travel by rail and the romance of travel. In tribute to its railway heritage, the name Notch 8 is a term indicating the final notch and top gear available to a train engineer and the pinnacle position that can be achieved while in operation. Notch 8 is a “notch above”.

In order to ensure the hotel reached its “top notch” goals, EDG focoused on the flow of the hotel and the guest experience for the hotels arrival and social core.  The existing entrance to the hotel breezeway was moved and replaced with larger double doors to make it more accessible. The check-in desks were relocated closer to the breezeway entrance. Inefficient restaurant space was turned into retail and the restaurant was reimagined.

The new restaurant is a warm, welcoming and reminiscent of its railway roots. Historic photographs line the back walls of the bar. A speakeasy is located in the lower level of the restaurant and showcases velvet settees and leather high-back chairs with custom details.

Notch 8 harkens back to a time when a luxurious dining room in Vancouver was not just a destination for a city, or even a province… it was a destination for a new nation, eager to discover its Pacific West. EDG has captured this sentiment throughout the design and is proud to help restore this property to its grandeur.

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