Recognized Federal Heritage Building

Naden Museum Square, Building 20

Esquimalt, British Columbia

Also known as Former Officer's Ward, Ancien pavillon des officiers

Corner view of Building 20, showing the projecting bays and the segmentally arched windows with stone surrounds, 1988.

Corner view of Building 20, showing the projecting bays and the segmentally arched windows with stone surrounds, 1988.

Photo: Department of National Defence / Ministère de la Défense nationale, 1988.

Built
1891
Recognized
1990
By
Government of Canada

The register’s text, word for word

Description

Building 20, part of Naden Museum Square in Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, also known as the Former Officer’s Ward, stands back from a road, and faces a formal lawn and gardens. The building is a one-storey, rectangular, brick structure of low massing with a hipped roof, and a verandah with decorative woodwork. The designation is confined to the footprint of the building.

Heritage value

Building 20 is a Recognized Federal Heritage Building because of its historical associations, and its architectural and environmental values.

Historical Value

Building 20 is a good example of a building constructed as an integral part of the original Royal Naval Hospital complex, an essential service for Esquimalt as the headquarters of the Pacific station of the Royal Navy from 1865 to 1905. On loan to the Military Hospitals Commission, it subsequently served as part of the Esquimalt Military Convalescent Hospital from 1915-1922. From 1922 until the mid-1930s, the former hospital buildings housed the first west-coast Royal Canadian Navy training establishment as part of HMCS Naden.

Architectural Value

Building 20 represents a significant phase in the evolution of hospital planning and design. The complex is a rare surviving Canadian example of a ‘pavilion hospital’, a building type popular in the late 18th and 19th centuries designed to counter overcrowding and the spread of disease through improved ventilation and a greater separation of functions.

Environmental Value

Building 20 stands within the original Royal Naval Hospital complex and reinforces the military character of the Canadian Forces Base at Esquimalt. Complementing its adjacent buildings, Building No. 20 is carefully integrated into its well-planned setting. Its exterior façades and its integrated setting within the surviving Royal Navy Hospital complex define the building.

SourceIan Doull, Museum Square, (Former Royal Naval Hospital, Seven Buildings), Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, British Columbia, Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office, Report 88-154; Museum Square – Building No. 20, CFB Esquimalt, Esquimalt, British Columbia. Heritage Character Statement 88-154.

Character‑defining elements

The following character-defining elements of Building 20 should be respected.

Its functional design and good quality materials and craftsmanship, for example:

  • the low massing and symmetry of the one-storey, rectangular, hipped-roofed brick building;
  • the projecting bays and the segmentally arched windows with stone surrounds;
  • the double front door, and the verandah with decorative woodwork and railing on the main elevation.

The manner in which Building 20 reinforces the present character of Museum Square within Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt as evidenced by:

  • its architectural vocabulary consistent with the other buildings of the hospital complex.

End of the register’s text

Location

Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada

48.43640° N, 123.42050° W

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Nearby

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From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as last updated on December 12, 2025. The register’s text is shown word for word.