FedHeritage Railway Station · 1920–1921Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia321 Selby StreetPhoto: Mick Hall from Saanich BC, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Commons file
Christian Science Society · Photo: KenWalker [email protected] · CC BY-SA 3.05historic places on the registers
History of Nanaimo · Canada’s heritage registers
5 historic places on the heritage registers in Nanaimo
Designations here include 2 provincial or municipal listings, a heritage lighthouse, a heritage railway station and a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. The oldest dated place, Bastion, goes back to 1855. Wikidata dates the municipality to 1874, which may be its founding, its incorporation or a later merger. Measured against its size, Nanaimo’s 0.4 per 10,000 residents puts it ahead of 74% of Canadian towns.
Historic places
5
0.4 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
0
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
3
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Provincial and local listings
2
provincial and municipal listings with an encyclopedia article
Oldest building
1855
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
13%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Nanaimo’s landmarks in 3 photos, with 2 old views
In front: Christian Science Society and “Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia”. Of the places on Nanaimo’s registers, 3 have a photo here.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Through time
Nanaimo between 1896 and 1906
In order of date: one old photograph of the town, then the oldest view of one of its historic places. A tap on any picture opens it with its credit.
c. 1896
c. 1906Public domain or CC0, made before 1950, from Wikimedia Commons; old views of places can be drawings, prints or maps of their time. Each credit opens the image’s page.
The map
Where Nanaimo’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Other federal designationsProvincial and local listings
Each dot is a place: point at it for the name, tap it for its page.
The 5, by tier
3 Other federal designations2 Provincial and local listings
Federal designations come from Parks Canada’s directory; a province’s or a council’s own listing shows here only when Wikidata holds it and an encyclopedia covers it.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there. 2 places, placed by their register’s municipality, have no point and aren’t on the map.
Other federal designations
3 other places Canada recognizes in Nanaimo
They were designated between 1991 and 2015. Here that means a Recognized Federal Heritage Building, a heritage railway station and a heritage lighthouse. Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
Recognized Federal Heritage Building · 1954–1956Federal Building60 Front Street
Heritage Lighthouse · 1971–1972Entrance Island Lighthouse
What’s designated
More stations, lighthouses and bridges than anything else in Nanaimo: 40%
At the head of the list: Federal Building and “Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia”.
Stations, lighthouses and bridges2
Public buildings1
Other places2
Kinds read from each place’s name and the functions its register gives; a building keeps the kind it was built as.
Provincial and local listings
On provincial and local lists in Nanaimo: 2 places
Provincial and municipal listings that Wikidata records and an encyclopedia describes. They date from 1855 (Bastion) to 1932. Each one opens its own page.
Local
LocalListed in a community heritage register · 1932Christian Science SocietyPhoto: KenWalker [email protected] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
How old
In Nanaimo, the wars and the Depression left the most behind
Each place by the first construction date on its record.
British North America 1760–18661
After Confederation 1867–19130
Wars and Depression 1914–19452
Since 1946 1946 on2
Before 1867: one of the 5 with a date.
Homes by age
New homes stand out in Nanaimo: 9.2% from 2016–21, where most towns have 4.1%
Half of the homes standing in Nanaimo today were built before 2001. Before 1961: just 13% of Nanaimo’s homes, where most towns have 18%. The busiest building years in Nanaimo were from 1981 to 2000, which account for 33% of today’s homes.
13%
Before 1961
26%
1961–80
33%
1981–2000
19%
2001–15
9.2%
2016–21
NanaimoTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Born here
10 lives that began in Nanaimo before 1914
Fame, by Wikipedia: Mary Frizzell first, in 16 languages. It starts with May Tully, born in 1884. Of them all, Audrey Alexandra Brown lived longest: 94 years, until 1998. The latest, Mary Frizzell, was born in 1913.
May Tully
Jimmy Claxton
Bradda Field
Raymond Collishaw
Clive Planta
Charles Hickey
Kalervo Oberg
William Austin
Audrey Alexandra Brown
Mary Frizzell
18501875190019251950
Mary Frizzell1913–1972 · Canadian athletics competitor
Raymond Collishaw1893–1976 · Royal Air Force air marshal
KO
Kalervo Oberg1901–1973 · Canadian anthropologist
May Tully1884–1924 · Canadian actress, writer, director and producer in theatre and film
CH
Charles Hickey1897–1918 · Canadian flying ace
Jimmy Claxton1892–1970 · Canadian baseball player
WA
William Austin1903–1993 · American film editor
CP
Clive Planta1895–1972 · Canadian politician
Everyone born in Nanaimo → Born before 1914 (the page’s periods: Confederation to the First World War). Birthplaces from Wikidata, each checked against the person’s Wikipedia article.
Neighbours
Nanaimo and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanaimo | 111,845 | 5 | 0 | 1855 |
| Electoral Area C, Nanaimo | 3,733 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Lantzville | 4,276 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Electoral Area A, Nanaimo | 7,825 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Electoral Area B, Nanaimo | 4,702 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Fairwinds | 7,125 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
Nanaimo in brief
Inside Nanaimo there are 5 historic places. Among the lives from its past: Mary Frizzell (1913), Raymond Collishaw (1893) and Kalervo Oberg (1901). Before 1961: just 13% of its homes, against 18% in the typical town. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it has 5 historic places, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 5); and its places were designated between 1991 and 2015.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Protection. A National Historic Site designation recognises significance; it doesn’t by itself protect a building the federal government doesn’t own. Legal protection comes from provincial and municipal designations, whose own registers aren’t open data outside Québec.
- Provincial and municipal lists. The local and provincial lists outside Québec aren’t published openly, so this page counts what Wikidata records and pages only the places an encyclopedia describes.
- The tiers. Three tiers: the top for National Historic Sites, classified federal buildings and Québec’s classements, a second for the other federal designations, a third for provincial and municipal listings.
- The federal register. Federal places come from Parks Canada’s directory, which counts National Historic Sites, federal heritage buildings, stations and lighthouses; their statements are the register’s own.
- The grade. History is described, not graded, for every Canadian town.
- Map points. Parks Canada publishes no coordinates, so federal places are pinned where Wikidata puts them.
- People and events. Persons of national historic significance come with no location; a town gets one only by birthplace (name and both life years agreeing) or by one of its own places that bears the name and whose record tells the story. Events, which can’t be tied, are left out.
Questions about Nanaimo’s history
How many historic places does Nanaimo have on the registers?
Inside Nanaimo: 5 historic places.
What is the oldest building in Nanaimo?
Bastion — its record dates it to 1855 (Heritage designation).
Why might a heritage building in Nanaimo be missing here?
Only federal designations are fully open outside Québec. 2 more listings in Nanaimo are known through Wikidata alone, so they are counted, not paged.
How old are the homes in Nanaimo?
13% of its homes were built before 1961, against 18% in the typical Canadian town.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).