Description of Historic Place

The Brick Cottage is a very small, one storey brick structure located adjacent to a municipal park and a major thoroughfare, just west of the city core. The historic place includes the building and surrounding gardens.

Heritage Value

The Brick Cottage is an excellent example of a community preservation project. Built around 1910 as an office or storage building for a minor local coal company, the small rectangular building and grounds were converted into a residence and small farmstead in the 1920s. Over time, a frame addition and concrete milk house were added to the rear. In 1999, as part of a community preservation project, the original modest, brick building, minus the addition and milk house, was relocated to its current location to accommodate road construction. The building is currently owned by the municipality and used as an environmental and historical interpretation centre for the adjoining park.

The grounds surrounding the Brick Cottage are an integral part of the site and are an excellent example of a recreated landscape that reflects the building's original context. The original site featured several agricultural out buildings, extensive flower and vegetable gardens and an orchard. Many of these elements were recreated on the new site, including a grape arbour and other appropriate plantings as well as hard landscape features.

The value of the Brick Cottage resides in its location adjacent to a popular municipal park, readily accessible to the public as an educational and interpretive venue.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Brick Cottage include:
- the building's location adjacent to a municipal park.
- the interpretive signage in the interior of the building and the large interpretative kiosk near the entry to the site.
- all the elements of a modest brick building including the offset front entry, segmental arched windows and door openings.
- all of the landscape elements including the pathways, fencing, plantings and grape arbour.