Description of Historic Place

The Bastion is a freestanding, octagonal, three-story defensive fortification that overlooks Nanaimo's Inner Harbour. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

Nanaimo's oldest building and the sole reminder of the Hudson's Bay Company's singular coal mining venture, the Bastion is the physical evidence of the community's earliest European social and economic development.

The Bastion, built between 1853-1855, is the only known remaining freestanding tower structure built by the Hudson's Bay Company. As such, it is a unique example of a defense fortification built by a company that played a major role in Canadian history.

The Bastion's unusual octagonal shape and high visibility from both land and sea make it Nanaimo's premier landmark.

The Bastion represents British Columbia's earliest case of historic preservation and is an important example of the changing approaches to heritage conservation. It originally stood on the other side of Front Street, and was moved in 1891 after its original site was sold. In 1974, it was moved to its present location in another preservation effort. The building's environmental context, overlooking the harbour, has never changed.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-02/98 Front Street

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Bastion include:

-all of the original elements of a Hudson's Bay Company defensive fortification as expressed in the squared hand-hewn logs, octagonal shape with projecting third floor, "poteau-sur-sole" (post on sill) construction and second floor rope pull gun ports and rifle slots.

-all of the elements of the successive rehabilitations including the shingle roof and the foundation.

-the location of the Bastion in a prominent downtown location, visible from both the sea and from land