Description of Historic Place

212 Broadway Street is a former Imperial Oil service station that has been converted to retail use. It is located on the south side of Broadway Street in Nakusp, British Columbia. The historic place includes the adjacent former bus depot.

Heritage Value

212 Broadway Street is primarily valued for its service station architecture. The 1943 building is a one-storey gable-roofed wood-frame structure to which a stucco façade has been added. The roofline of the parapet includes a curved peak, which evokes the streamlined modern designs of the period, reflected in architecture as well as in automobile, ship and aeroplane design. From the 1920s to the 1940s this style was used in service stations and automobile sales offices to evoke the freedom and independence of automobile travel.

This building retains the pattern of windows and doorways from its period of use as a service station. These include large plate glass windows for the office facing Broadway,and three bays of service doors for vehicle entrance to the repair area. Additional service doors are located on the west side of the building. The front façade has been clad in vertical board and a canopy has been placed above the windows.

212 Broadway Street illustrates the growth in the popularity of the automobile and the facilities required to service that growth in Nakusp. Early automobiles were filled manually with cans from bulk tanks. By the 1920s companies were using gas station design to reflect their corporate identity and as a platform for advertising. In the 1930s, the Depression forced gasoline companies to expand their services by including automobile repairs and expanding display space to sell more product lines. By 1928 Imperial Oil had developed three standard plans for different urban contexts. This site was originally developed as a garage and Esso service station by James Hakeman in the 1920s. The small Greyhound bus depot building was constructed here in 1931, and in 1943, the Imperial Oil garage and service station was constructed adjacent to it. The Greyhound bus depot continued to operate at this site until the 1960s, when Mr. Hakeman retired.

Source: Village of Nakusp Municipal Office, 91-1st Street NW, Nakusp, B.C. V0G 1R0

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of 212 Broadway Street include its:
-location on the south side of Broadway Street in downtown Nakusp
-single-storey massing
-streamlined service station architecture, including curved front façade
-gable roof
-pattern of window and door openings including large display windows and service doors
-attached former bus depot waiting room