Victorian brick and stone buildings line Water Street, paved in red brick with cast iron lamps and a steam clock at Cambie Street.
What Gastown looks like
runs from Richards Street to Carrall Street, lined with three to six storey brick and stone buildings topped with flat cornices and ground floor storefronts. Much of the roadway is paved in red brick rather than asphalt, and steel bollards line the curb at the corners. Cast iron lamp posts along the sidewalk carry hanging flower baskets in summer, and several storefronts put cafe tables out under striped awnings.
Carrall, Water, Powell and Alexander streets meet at , where the rounded corner of the faces up the block. The bronze statue that stood on the square's corner was toppled in February 2022, and its pedestal removed two months later.
Narrow laneways run behind the main blocks, carrying the district's power and telephone lines instead of the street. Some, like off Water Street, are landscaped with plantings and paving stones, while others are still service alleys with brick walls, waste bins and fire escapes facing in.
The steam clock at Water and Cambie streets dates from 1977, decades newer than the brick around it. It runs on two electric motors, with steam kept only for its whistles. Sections of Water Street between Richards and Carrall are closed to cars, left to pedestrians and cyclists with tables and planters set out on the roadway.
More than 140 brick and stone buildings, most three to six storeys, stand within a few blocks of Water Street. Ground floors hold bars, restaurants and shops behind glass storefronts, with round arched window openings and stone lintels on the floors above.
Shot in Gastown
Fifty Shades of Grey used a coffee house on West Cordova Street and Maple Tree Square to play Seattle, and a two-night shoot for the series Supernatural dressed a building at Columbia and Cordova streets as a fictional outreach center standing in for Dearborn, Michigan. Legends of the Fall used Hotel Europe and the harbor area facades around Maple Tree Square to double as Helena, Montana, in the early 1900s.
Legends of the Fall, 1994
Hotel Europe and Maple Tree Square
Played Alfred Ludlow's business, Helena, Montana
The production shot Hotel Europe at 43 Powell Street for the film's hotel scenes. The flatiron building faces Maple Tree Square, where the production also dressed street facades as Alfred Ludlow's business in Helena, Montana. The bronze Gassy Jack statue seen in this 2012 photograph stood in the square until protesters toppled it in 2022. It was not put back, though Hotel Europe and the block around it are unchanged.
TWICE's "Likey," 2017
Played a backdrop in the music video
The video for TWICE's Likey used the Gastown Steam Clock as a backdrop for the song's dance routine, along with Maple Tree Square and a Gastown alley. It is posted on JYP Entertainment's own YouTube channel and has passed 660 million views.
What Gastown can double for
Pioneer Square in Seattle, Washington
Fifty Shades of Grey used a Water Street coffee house and Maple Tree Square to play Seattle, and Pioneer Square carries the same three to six storey brick and stone blocks from the same rebuilding decades. Pioneer Square's totem pole and pergola read as specifically Seattle in a wide shot, so tighter street level frames hold the illusion better. Try searching brick and stone blocks now.
Larimer Square's Victorian brick storefronts with cast iron details date from the 1880s and 1890s, the same era as Water Street's rebuilding. Denver's dry mountain light and wider street give it away next to Gastown's narrower block, so overcast days and tight frames work best. Try searching Victorian brick storefronts now.
The Distillery District's red brick industrial blocks and cobblestone lanes date from the same decades as Water Street's rebuilding. Its lanes run wider than Gastown's and its buildings carry more visible pipework, so close alley frames read better than open street shots. Try searching red brick industrial blocks now.
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