Living Shangri-La in Vancouver
The Living Shangri-La is the tallest building in not just Vancouver, but in all of British Columbia, standing at 659 feet tall. It’s a 62-storey skyscraper, with the first 15 floors acting as a 5-star hotel and the rest as residential units. The hotel itself is famous for being super swanky and expensive, so you can only imagine how envious people are of those who actually live there. They have some amazing amenities including a grocery store, spa, private roof garden and a display curated by the Vancouver Art Gallery.
SkyCity Centre in Winnipeg
Another mixed-use skyscraper, the SkyCity Centre was unveiled last year as what will be the tallest building in Winnipeg. The 46-storey high building is set to be finished in 2017, where it will officially become the tallest building situated between Toronto and Calgary - very cool. Amenities in the lower part of the building will include a 25,000 square foot grocery store, a top of the line gym and a rooftop terrace. It’s located very close to the Red River too, which runs right through the city and should make for some stunning views. We can’t wait to see the finished product! 
1250 René-Lévesque (IBM Marathon Tower) in Montreal
Interestingly, this building is known by and named after its address: 1250 René-Lévesque Boulevard. It’s the tallest building in Montreal standing at 741 feet and was completed in 1992. The architecture of the skyscraper was based on the Westend Tower in Frankfurt, both of which were designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It sits in downtown Montreal close to Windsor Station, which used to by the city’s link to the Canadian Pacific Railway and is now an office building. 
The Bow in Calgary
This skyscraper initiated the start of Calgary’s Downtown East Village redevelopment. It was completed in 2012 and stands at 774 feet. The Bow got it’s name from the incredible view of the Bow River that comes with the real estate, and it’s the tallest office building in Canada outside of Toronto. With over 3,200 employees working in the building, the only real amenity the Bow Tower offers are the sky gardens every 17 or 18 floors. One great thing about the sky gardens though is they have meeting spaces, so it’s kind of like you’re working outdoors!
Place de Ville in Ottawa
The tallest building in our nation’s capital doesn’t even come close to some of the others that are listed when it comes to height, standing at only 367 feet. It’s the oldest of the bunch too as it was finished in 1972. Place de Ville as a whole is actually a complex of five buildings including three offices and two large hotels. “Tower C” of the office buildings is the tallest building in Ottawa, and is home to the Department of Transport for the city. 
Surprisingly, in most of the other provinces and territories in Canada, most of the tallest buildings in major cities don’t peak over 400 feet. It’s really interesting to see how Toronto differs from other places across the nation.
Have you visited any of these cities and their tallest skyscrapers? What did you think?
