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Merchant's Bank of Canada

499 Wallace Street, Nanaimo, Colombie-Britannique, V9R, Canada

Reconnu formellement en: 2002/10/07

Exterior of the Merchant's Bank of Canada, 2004; City of Nanaimo, Christine Meutzner, 2004
South and east elevations
Pas d'image
Pas d'image

Autre nom(s)

s/o

Liens et documents

Date(s) de construction

1912/01/01

Inscrit au répertoire canadien: 2004/07/16

Énoncé d'importance

Description du lieu patrimonial

The Merchant's Bank of Canada building is a two-story, Free Renaissance style building located on a prominent corner in downtown Nanaimo. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Valeur patrimoniale

Built in 1912, the Merchant's Bank is Nanaimo's sole example of the eclectic, elegant Free Renaissance style, inspired by Italian churches and palaces, and popular in North America from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The exterior was faced with a combination of a banded brick base and quoining that framed the edges and structural openings. A later coat of stucco obscured these features but some of the facade details, including the prominent cornices typical of this style, are still discernible. The elaborately detailed, round-arched windows, featuring radiating mullions and brick keystones, angled corner entry and ornate cast plaster ceiling are also substantially intact.

The Merchant's Bank is significant for its association with Francis Mawson Rattenbury, British Columbia's premier architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rattenbury also designed the Nanaimo and Nelson Court Houses, the provincial Parliament Buildings and numerous other residential and institutional buildings.

The building's prominent corner location and exceptional windows make it a highly visible landmark.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-02/499 Wallace Street

Éléments caractéristiques

Character-defining elements of the Merchant's Bank Building include:

-all of the discernible elements of the Free Renaissance style including the form and massing, prominent cornices, elaborate round arched windows and corner entry.

-the location at a prominent downtown intersection.

Reconnaissance

Juridiction

Colombie-Britannique

Autorité de reconnaissance

Administrations locales (C.-B.)

Loi habilitante

Local Government Act, art.954

Type de reconnaissance

Répertoire du patrimoine communautaire

Date de reconnaissance

2002/10/07

Données sur l'histoire

Date(s) importantes

s/o

Thème - catégorie et type

Économies en développement
Commerce et affaires

Catégorie de fonction / Type de fonction

Actuelle

Commerce / Services commerciaux
Magasin ou commerce de vente au détail
Commerce / Services commerciaux
Bureau ou édifice à bureaux

Historique

Commerce / Services commerciaux
Banque ou bourse

Architecte / Concepteur

Francis Mawson Rattenbury

Constructeur

s/o

Informations supplémentaires

Emplacement de la documentation

City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-02/499 Wallace Street See also: Nanaimo Community Archives Building Plans Collection

Réfère à une collection

Identificateur féd./prov./terr.

DgRx-67

Statut

Édité

Inscriptions associées

s/o

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