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A Vancouver building featuring a popular and iconic outdoor mural is being torn down today to make room for new condominiums.

The Whaling Wall mural featuring orcas has been on the side of the old Continental Hotel at the north end of the Granville Street bridge since 1994. The building, along with the mural, is being taken down to make way for a new development of condominiums.

Painted by the artist Wyland, there are 100 of these large outdoor murals known as Whaling Walls around the world. The murals feature life-size images of sea life like gray whales, breaching humpback whales, blue whales and orcas.

Whaling Walls are created by invitation of the city or communities, institutions and building owners on which they are painted. The 100th and final wall was painted in Beijing in 2008.

In Vancouver a new mural will be commissioned but the location will be moved to East Vancouver.

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The city is still discussing what mural will look like and which artist will be commissioned.

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