Description of Historic Place

The Modern Cafe building is a two storey International style building located on the main street of Nanaimo's downtown core. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

Heritage Value

The Modern Cafe building is an excellent example of the stylistic evolution of a building over time. Built in 1910 in the Classical Revival style, the building was significantly altered in the early 1950s. Like the adjacent Free Press Building, the Modern Cafe building acquired a simple, International style facade that projected a more modern, progressive outlook.

The Modern Cafe neon sign, erected in the mid-1940s, is a rare surviving example of the type of signage that proliferated in downtown Nanaimo from the 1940s until the 1980s. Recently refurbished, the sign is a well loved and highly visible landmark.

Located on Nanaimo's main downtown thoroughfare, the Modern Cafe building forms part of a significant cluster of heritage buildings located at the intersection of Church, Chapel and Commercial Streets.

The Modern Cafe building is also significant because of its association with A.E. Planta, who built and operated an insurance, financial services and real estate business in this building from 1910 to the mid-1930s. Planta was active in local politics, serving as an alderman for eight terms, mayor for eight terms, and as a school trustee for many years before his 1917 appointment to the Canadian Senate. Planta Park in the Hammond Bay area of the city is named for the family.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Modern Cafe building include:
-all of the elements of the International style as expressed in the flat roof, large steel and glass windows, and minimally ornamented flat surfaces.
-the neon sign and single band of lights on the small projecting roof above the front entry and windows.
-the location on an intersection of the main downtown thoroughfare.