A Beaver on the Roof

HBC Beaver wind vane

@Ronrybs (21504)

London, England

December 23, 2019 6:01am CST

I do enjoy wandering around and finding historic or otherwise quirky buildings. From now on I shall be looking up as well as seeing what is at ground level. The grand building, in the left hand photo, is the former headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay Company, more commonly known as HBC. HBC is the oldest incorporated company in the English speaking world, granted a Royal, English, charter in 1670. The company basically had a monopoly of the fur trade in English, and later British, controlled North America. Indeed, the company was the de facto Government in this region, until the 19th century. At about that time the company began to move from its fur and trading posts structure into what we know today of stores and a wide variety of household goods. The company moved from its Bishopsgate Headquarters, in the City of London, in 1974, doubtless because of UK taxes and general economic instability, to Canada. Appropriately for a company rooted in the fur trade, the weather vane is a beaver.

12 people like this

13 responses

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

23 Dec 19

Well, that's very appropriate. It's amazing what we can miss sometimes because we don't look around enough.

3 people like this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

And once you find one, you see dozens of others!

2 people like this

@JudyEv (381815)

• Rockingham, Australia

23 Dec 19

@Ronrybs I'm always looking for photos to put here but some people never seem to actually 'see' stuff which jumps out at me.

2 people like this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

24 Dec 19

@JudyEv I tend to notice the odder things on my travels and there are a fair few on my travels in the city

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Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (44941)

• Preston, England

25 Dec 19

That is pretty neat - no doubt we miss a great deal for not looking properly.

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Arthur Chappell

@arthurchappell (44941)

• Preston, England

28 Dec 19

@Ronrybs yes, much of the time we will end up craning our necks for nothing. If I know I'm going to an area I do look online and through any Tourist Info Centre material I can access to have an idea what to look out for

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@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

27 Dec 19

Course it does help to know where to look!

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@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

28 Dec 19

@arthurchappell I like the quirkier things, so it takes a bit more searching and thumbing through books

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@TiarasOceanView (70020)

• United States

23 Dec 19

Look at that Ron, I never knew about the history of that building. Love the beaver up there. Oh yes we must always look up as well as all other directions lol

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@TiarasOceanView (70020)

• United States

24 Dec 19

@Ronrybs Presicely

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@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

24 Dec 19

As long as I remember to keep looking side to side as cross the road!

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@LadyDuck (502194)

• Italy

23 Dec 19

That beaver is extremely appropriate, as the HBC was a fur trading business for much of its existence.

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@LadyDuck (502194)

• Italy

23 Dec 19

@Ronrybs No more now that I know, I know better the banking sector of the HBC, but I am sure they are no more in the fur trading business.

2 people like this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

Made me think, I should investigate a little more up to date and see if they still involved in the trade. I hope not

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@DianneN (254949)

• United States

23 Dec 19

I am familiar with the HBC, but didn’t realize they had a beaver on its roof. It seems very appropriate. I suppose it’s important to look down as well as up when walking.

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@DianneN (254949)

• United States

23 Dec 19

@Ronrybs Those must be awesome. I’ve been on our son’s rooftop in New York City. It was amazing to see pools, gardens, and other things on all the rooftops.

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@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

24 Dec 19

@DianneN There is a rooftop garden in the City I want to visit. There are some tremendous views from atop buildings

2 people like this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

It certainly pays to look at everything. I found a site that shows some of the wind vanes on top of buildings

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@CarolDM (203396)

• Nashville, Tennessee

27 Dec 19

How cool, I never knew this.

2 people like this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

28 Dec 19

From what I've learnt there are dozens of these unusual weather vanes in the city, so I shall be keeping an eye for more

2 people like this

@CarolDM (203396)

• Nashville, Tennessee

28 Dec 19

@Ronrybs Yes and keep your camera close.

2 people like this

changjiangzhibin89

@changjiangzhibin89 (17239)

• China

23 Dec 19

Perhaps the reason why HBC used beaver as their logo was that the fur of beaver was highly prized,which spoke volumes about their high position in the fur trade.

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

The beaver was the mainstay of their business and I believe most were used in making hats, very expensive hats, though

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@Tampa_girl7 (54714)

• United States

23 Dec 19

I've read about the HBC and seen it portrayed in movies and shows.

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

One of their tasks was to find the North West Passage, they may be in a position to finally do that with global warming!

1 person likes this

@Fleura (34927)

• United Kingdom

23 Nov 20

Does the Hudson's Bay Company still exist? I knew about their activities in north America but I confess I never really understood how it all worked in terms of government.

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@Fleura (34927)

• United Kingdom

24 Nov 20

@Ronrybs What do they trade in these days?

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

25 Nov 20

@Fleura Good question, I know they have several main street stores. I wouldn't have thought there was much of a market in furs these days. I wonder if they are like Sears used to be?

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

24 Nov 20

It does, indeed. It was sold to American a few years back

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@JohnRoberts (109841)

• Los Angeles, California

23 Dec 19

One tends to associate HBC with Canada.

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

They are based in Canada now, but it was companies like HBC and the East India Company that lead to the British Empire. Once that went it makes sense to move to where you earn all your revenue

1 person likes this

@Hannihar (130150)

• Israel

23 Dec 19

@Ronrybs That is very interesting. Thank you for sharing that with us.

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

When I found out these little bits I like to spread it around!

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@Hannihar (130150)

• Israel

24 Dec 19

@Ronrybs Thank you for doing that.

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@misunderstood_zombie (8765)

• United States

19 Jul 20

It is so cute. You have such a wonderful town to explore old and new buildings. Where I live there really isn't anything very old.

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@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

19 Jul 20

I like all kinds of history. I really enjoyed wandering around Chicago train station, where they filmed the 'The Untouchables'. If I get to LA, again, I want to visit the storm drains on the LA River where they filmed the 50's Sci Fi 'Them' and the rail yard, too

@Janet357 (75638)

•

23 Dec 19

beautiful buildings! and that gold beaver too:)

1 person likes this

@Ronrybs (21504)

• London, England

23 Dec 19

You can see where all the profits from the early years went!