After Dark 3 - The Fairmont Empress Hotel

Here is the third Rattenbury-designed building that frames Victoria's Inner Harbour, the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Like the Legislative Assembly Building and the Bateman Centre it's also monumental, but with a completely different style. I suspect the differences in style between these three buildings may contribute to the feeling of many visitors that they are in some kind of theme park - here is Greekland (the Bateman Centre), over there is Romanland (The Legislative Assembly Building) and on the other side is a bit of French Chateau-land (the Fairmont Empress). Toss in the vaguely Art Nouveau Visitors' Centre (formerly a Mobil Gas Station) on the extreme left of the above photo and the mix becomes truly eclectic.