Description of Historic Place

The Eagle's Hall is a concrete, two-storey, Art Deco style building sited at a key downtown intersection. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

Purpose built as a lodge and dance hall with rentable commercial space for the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1934, the Hall is Nanaimo's earliest and one of the most striking examples of Art Deco style architecture. The exterior features stylized geometric ornamentation rendered in cast concrete and remains in substantially original condition. Much of the interior is also intact, including Art Deco light fixtures, the staircase, balustrade and original wooden dance floor.

Designed by Vancouver architects McCarter and Nairne, the provincial masters of Art Deco style, the Eagles' Hall is a rare case of a building designed by non-resident architects and/or contractors. The firm dominated public architecture in Vancouver during the mid-20th century and is best known for the Marine Building and the Georgia Medical-Dental Building.

The cast concrete eagle sculpture over the front entry is a tangible reminder of the Eagles' long association with the building and of the importance of fraternal organizations in the cultural, economic and social life of the city. Before the institution of Medicare and government pensions, organizations like the Eagles provided medical and other benefits to their members. In coal mining communities like Nanaimo where accident and death rates were exceptionally high, such benefits were crucially important.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-20/133-141 Bastion Street

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Eagle's Hall include:

-All the elements of the Art Deco style as expressed in the stylized geometric ornamentation of the buildings exterior, including the eagle sculpture over the front entry and the flattened fluted pilasters at the building's corners, and in the interior by the period fittings.

-The prominent corner location in downtown Nanaimo in a grouping of historic buildings.