Description of Historic Place

The Mainstreet Building is a two-storey brick Edwardian Classical Revival style commercial building located on the west side of the main commercial street in Ladysmith, British Columbia. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

Built in 1922, the Mainstreet Building is an excellent example of an Edwardian Classical Revival style commercial building. The building’s symmetrical façade, pilasters, and highly decorative capitals are all typical elements of this style. The building also features exceptional multi-coloured decorative brickwork.

The Mainstreet Building is part of a grouping of largely intact historic buildings in Ladysmith’s commercial core. Situated mid-block, the building is part of an almost continuous city block of similarly proportioned historic buildings that collectively create a cohesive streetscape.

The Mainstreet Building has been in continuous use as a commercial building since its construction. Although the building is among the youngest on this city block, it speaks to the ongoing commercial development of the area and contributes to the heritage character of the area.

Source: Town of Ladysmith, Development Services Department, File #6800-40g

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Mainstreet Building include:
- all of the elements of the Classical Revival Style building as expressed in the simple form and massing, flat roof, symmetrical three-bay multi-coloured brick façade, pilasters topped by large decorative capitals, distinctive checkerboard brickwork below the simple cornice, contrasting colour brick quoining around the second-storey windows, leaded glass in the upper sashes of the wood-framed second-storey windows, and the arrangement of the windows and doors at the street level
- continuous commercial use
- the building’s location within a group of similarly proportioned commercial buildings on the town’s main commercial street