Description of Historic Place

The Hirst Block is a two-storey Edwardian style building on Nanaimo's main downtown thoroughfare. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

Built in 1911, the Hirst Block is a superior example of the Edwardian commercial building style in Nanaimo. The front façade is beautifully detailed with elaborate tan-coloured brickwork and a projecting pressed metal cornice. Three round-arched windows on the second floor have decorative beveled glass in the upper sash. The building was sensitively rehabilitated in 1985 as part of the Downtown Revitilization.

The Hirst and, later Dakin, families were part of Nanaimo's early commercial elite and played prominent roles in the City's economic, social and political life.

The building is the eastern cap of a continuous line of substantially intact buildings located on the west side of Commercial Street. An elaborate pressed metal cornice at the roofline continues the one on the adjacent Rogers Block and reinforces the sense of connectedness to the rest of the street.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department, file #6800-20-H01-02/93-99 Commercial Street

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements of the Hirst Block include:

-All the elements of the Edwardian building style as expressed in the simple form and massing, arched windows, brickwork, symmetrical facade and the overall dignified and restrained appearance

-The location of the building on the main downtown thoroughfare as part of a grouping of heritage buildings on the west side of Commercial Street.