Meredith Road Residence

The Meredith Road Residence is a modest, one-storey building located approximately four miles north of the city centre. The historic place is confined to the building footprint.

The Meredith Road Residence is significant as one of the few remaining early buildings in an area that, until amalgamation with the City of Nanaimo in 1975, was a distinct community. Originally developed as a coalmining town in the late 19th century, Northfield enjoyed a brief resurgence in the late 1930s. In addition to coal mining, small-scale farming, dynamite manufacturing and other businesses were developed. Amalgamation and development between separate coal towns eventually blurred the distinctions among them. The Meredith Road Residence serves as a physical reminder of the area's original development as a distinct community.

A very good example of an early vernacular worker's cottage, the Meredith Road Residence, built around 1900, represents the Nanaimo area's predominant housing form from around 1900 to about 1920. Inexpensive to build, the typical worker's cottage featured a simple square plan, pyramidal roof and lack of ornamentation. As finances allowed and tastes dictated, improvements such as front verandahs and more elaborate wood trim were often added. The verandah on this building appears to be original and the building, with its original rubble stone foundation, is substantially intact.

Source: City of Nanaimo, Development Services Department

The character-defining elements of the Meredith Road Residence include:

- all the elements of a vernacular worker's cottage style, including the square plan, pyramidal roof, double-hung wooden sash windows, open front verandah with original square chamfered columns, and rubble stone foundation.

- the building's location in an area north of the original city centre.