Description of Historic Place

The Western Fuel Company House #24 is a one and one-half storey, Edwardian building located in one of Nanaimo's oldest neighbourhoods. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

The Western Fuel Company House #24 is a direct link with Nanaimo's coal mining history, the city's primary industry for almost 100 years. The Western Fuel Company, successor to the Hudson's Bay and Vancouver Coal Mining and Land companies, was Nanaimo's single largest employer from 1903 to the end of the 1930s. During the Western Fuel Company period, miners experienced tremendous change including mine mechanization, bitter labour conflicts, including the infamous 1912-14 strike and, eventually, the decline of the industry and the loss of their livelihoods.

Rebuilt in 1916 from an old house on the site, the Western Fuel Company House is a rare and very good example of company housing. Although it is known that the company built a number of houses, very few have been identified. No company housing built after this residence is known to exist. The expensive features of this house suggest that it was intended for a managerial or supervisory employee. The house features a very unusual cross gambrel roof with cross hip dormers, an open front verandah supported on square columns; decorative elements include beveled glass in the front door and sidelights, and a cross-leaded feature window.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Western Fuel Company House #24 include:
-all of the elements of Edwardian vernacular housing as expressed in the complicated massing, unusual cross gambrel roof with cross gable dormers, horizontal lapped wooden siding, double-hung wooden sash windows, beveled side lights, square porch columns, full open front verandah and beveled glass door and sidelights.