Burrard Dry Dock, Historic shipyard in North Vancouver, Canada.
Burrard Dry Dock is a shipbuilding facility on the north shore of Burrard Inlet in North Vancouver, featuring waterfront piers, work buildings, and industrial structures. The site preserves several original structures and infrastructure from its years as one of the region's major maritime construction centers.
Founded in 1894 as a small boat-building workshop, the facility grew over decades into a major shipyard serving the Pacific Northwest. During the Second World War, it became a critical production center for Canadian naval and merchant vessels.
The site's name comes from the company it housed: Wallace Shipyards became Burrard Dry Dock Company in 1921. At its wartime peak the yard employed 14,000 workers, about 1,000 of them women. Today signs and dioramas around the redeveloped property recount the shipyard's history, and two restored cranes stand above Shipyard Plaza and Craneway Plaza.
The site lies at the foot of Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver, where Shipyard Plaza and Craneway Plaza now stand between the restored buildings. Two restored shipyard cranes tower over these plazas, and signs and dioramas around the development recount the shipyard's history. The former Pipe Shop and Coppersmiths Shop have been restored for retail use.
The St. Roch, a research vessel built here in 1928, later became the first ship to navigate the Northwest Passage in both directions. This achievement made the vessel an important symbol of Canadian Arctic exploration and maritime innovation.
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