Gastown Steam Clock

The Gastown Steam Clock is a fully functional steam-powered street clock in Vancouver's historic Gastown district and one of Canada's most photographed urban fixtures. Despite widespread belief, it is not a Victorian original — clockmaker Ray Saunders built it in 1977, deliberately designed in 19th-century style to complement Gastown's heritage brick streetscape. Power comes from the city's underground steam-heating network, which whistles the clock's chimes every quarter hour. That combination of modern engineering dressed in period aesthetics makes it a fitting emblem of Gastown itself: a carefully restored late-19th-century neighborhood that wears its history as a deliberate choice.