Description of Historic Place

The Commercial Hotel is a three-storey Edwardian Commercial style building located in Nanaimo's downtown core. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

The Commercial Hotel is a tangible reminder of the social and economic importance of hotels in Nanaimo history. Like most mining communities, early Nanaimo had a large population of single, often transient, men. As affordable housing alternatives, hotels functioned as living quarters and, in the saloons and restaurants typically located on the ground floor, as social centres.

Associated with Nanaimo's earliest commercial development, the Commercial Hotel has operated continuously in Nanaimo since 1875. The first Commercial Hotel was located on the adjacent corner. In 1913, this new structure was built as an addition and the original hotel was eventually torn down.

Designed by architects Bresemann and Durfee, who also designed Victoria's First Congregational Church and St. James Hotel, the Commercial Hotel is a very good example of the Edwardian Commercial style and features the simplicity and overall restrained appearance typical of this style. Despite some alterations, much of the building's original character is intact.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-20/121 Bastion Street

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Commercial Hotel include:

-All of the characteristics of the Edwardian Commercial style including the simple form and massing, brick construction, cornice, symmetrical façade, minimal ornamentation and overall restrained appearance.

-The location of the building on a prominent downtown street.

-The continuing function of the building as a hotel or similar use.