"The Dunsmuirs would have approved" — Nanaimo, BC
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Dunbar Loop
N 49° 09.818 W 123° 56.196
10U E 431719 N 5446068
The Dunsmuirs was the coal mining magnate family that essentially ran Vancouver Island during the 1800s. They would have approved of this 1912 bank solidifying the importance of the area.
Waymark Code: WM15RM4
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 02/17/2022
Views: 3
From the City of Nanaimo Community Heritage Register:
"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."
Type of Marker: Cultural
Type of Sign: Historic Site or Building Marker
Describe the parking that is available nearby: On-street parking
What Agency placed the marker?: City of Nanaimo
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