Description of Historic Place

The Provincial Liquor Store is a one-storey building with a low, square corner tower. Built in the Streamline Moderne style, the building is located on a prominent downtown corner. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

The Provincial Liquor Store is a very good example of Streamline Moderne architecture. Built of cast-in-place concrete, this horizontally proportioned building is minimally detailed. Glass block, a typical feature of this style, was used for the windows and curved entry walls.

The Provincial Liquor Store is significant as one of very few local buildings constructed by the provincial government. Built in 1949 to a standardized plan created by the Department of Public Works' Assistant Chief Architect Lord Wilfrid Hargreaves, the Liquor Store is one of only two known surviving examples of this particular plan. The other is located in Prince George. Hargreaves also designed the Queen's Printers building in Victoria.

The Provincial Liquor Store is evidence of Nanaimo's post Second World War economic renewal and represents, in its striking modernity, a shift towards a different aesthetic in the downtown core.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-20/25 Cavan Street

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Provincial Liquor Store include:

-All of the elements of the Streamline Moderne style as expressed in the simple form, flat walls, minimal decoration, glass block insets and windows and horizontal orientation.

-The location on a prominent corner within a grouping of historic buildings.