Description of Historic Place

Jessup's Drug Store is a one-storey Boomtown-style building located between two major thoroughfares in the commercial district of Ladysmith, British Columbia. The historic place is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage Value

Built around 1900, Jessup's Drug Store is an excellent example of a simple, vernacular Boomtown or false-front style structure. Until the erection of more sophisticated brick buildings in this area over the next few decades, Ladysmith's first commercial buildings were typically wood-framed and clad, and false-fronted. Boomtown fronts made buildings appear more substantial and provided a convenient area for signage, while large windows provided space for the display of goods. The building remains substantially intact.

The Jessup's Drug Store building is significant as part of an important grouping of heritage structures on this block. It is, however, the only remaining one of its style on a street that was, at one time, lined with several similar buildings.

Symbolizing Ladysmith's very earliest commercial development, Jessup's Drug Store has been in continuous use for over a century and adds significantly to the heritage character of the street.

Source: Town of Ladysmith, Development Services

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Jessup's Drug Store building include:

- all of the elements of its vernacular architecture as expressed in the wood siding, Boomtown false-front façade, cornice with ornate cornice brackets, and centered, inset single entry door with large flanking windows
- the building's small scale and simple form and massing
- the building's location within a group of heritage buildings on a commercial street in the downtown core
- the building's status as the only remaining example of a Boomtown structure on this block
- the building's continuous commercial use for over a century