Description of Historic Place

The Ladysmith Railway Station is a modest, one-storey cottage style building located between the railway tracks and the highway in Ladysmith, British Columbia. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

The Ladysmith Railway Station is valued as a tangible reminder of the crucial role of rail transportation in early Ladysmith. For decades, the local economy was dependent on rail transportation to move its primary export products - coal and logs - to the breakwater. The railway also provided important passenger service between island communities. By the 1940s, better roads led to increased use of truck transportation and increased ownership of automobiles led to less dependence on the railway for passenger travel. The Ladysmith Railway Station's modest size and detailing symbolize the waning of what had once been the most significant mode of transportation in the area.

Built in 1944 to replace an earlier, more elaborate structure that included living quarters, the Ladysmith Railway Station is a simple-cottage style building. The Ladysmith Railway Station features typical functional elements such as a projecting central block which provided unobstructed views of the track and an attached freight shed. Simple and functional, the building remains substantially intact.

Source: Town of Ladysmith, Development Services

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Ladysmith Railway Station include:

- all of the elements of the station's cottage-style design, including the stucco cladding, low hipped roof, low massing punctuated by a gable roofed projection facing the tracks, decorative belly bands, decorative half-timbers in the gabled projection and large freight shed doors
- the location of the building in a historic industrial area, adjacent to the railway tracks and other industrial buildings