Description of Historic Place

The Newbury Farm House is a one and one-half storey Craftsman bungalow located in one of Nanaimo's oldest neighbourhoods. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

The Newbury Farm House is significant because it speaks to the direct role local coal companies played in shaping the physical and social development of the Nanaimo area. In 1884, Samuel Robins, the Superintendent of the Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company, purchased Harewood Estates, a large parcel of land between Nanaimo and the base of Mount Benson. Robins subdivided the area into 'Five Acre' Farms and made them available to mining families at affordable prices. Robins envisioned farming as a way for miners to provide for themselves whenever coal markets were depressed. The experience of William Newbury, who built this home, illustrates Robins' concept in application. William Newbury and his son were alternately miners and nurserymen, at one time operating a florist shop in downtown Nanaimo.

Built around 1918, the Newbury Farm House is a substantially intact, very good example of a Craftsman bungalow. The Newbury Farm House has many of the features typical of this style including the front gable roof, dormers, inset corner porch and wooden siding.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Newbury Farm House include:
- all of the elements of the Craftsman bungalow style as expressed in the simple form, horizontal, lapped wooden siding, inset corner porch with square columns, multi-paned wooden sash windows, scroll cut vergeboards and triangular eave brackets.
- the building's location in one of Nanaimo's oldest neighbourhoods.