Fairview is a district situated on the west side of Vancouver, B.C. It runs to Cambie Street in the east, to False Creek in the north, to Burrard Street in the west and from 16th Avenue in the south.
At first, the Fairview area as with most of the City of Vancouver was initially a rich rain forest place. It had various wildlife and huge wood until the opening of Moodyville and the Hastings Mills on Burrard Inlet in the 1860s. This green paradise became among the first areas to be logged.
Fairview was amongst the CPR land grants in the city. The area remained mostly undeveloped until the city expanded outside the Burrard Peninsula with the new electric railway system constructed in the 1890s.
The original streetcars in the city included the Granville and Cambie lines which ran along Broadway Street. Also, there was a line called the Fairview Loop, which ran in both directions from downtown up Main Street to Broadway, then making its way to Granville and back into the downtown core. This ease of access and consistent transportation led to fast development of the residential and commercial places in the neighborhood.
Fairview got its name from a portion of the region north of Broadway which has excellent views of the North Shore Mountains and the downtown city core. On the eastern fringe of Fairview, are some city offices located across Cambie Street from Vancouver City Hall.