Heritage Register - Merchant's Bank of Canada

Building Details
Name:	Merchant's Bank of Canada
Address:	499 Wallace Street
Architectural Style:	Edwardian
Building Use:	Commercial
Year of Construction:	1912
Builder or Architect:	Francis Mawson Rattenbury, Architect
Protected Heritage Property:	Yes

Heritage Value Statement

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.

Is there anything wrong with this page?

Help us improve our website

Don't include private or financial information in this form.

Email Address

What you were doing

What went wrong

Collection and use of your personal information
Information collected on this form is done so under the general authority of the Community Charter and Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA), and is protected in accordance with FOIPPA. Personal information will only be used by authorized staff to fulfill the purpose for which it was originally collected, or for a use consistent with that purpose. Questions about the collection of your personal information may be referred to the Legislative Services Department at (250) 755-4405, or via email at foi@nanaimo.ca.
Privacy Policy