GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION:
 The Bastion was originally built on a rock bluff located on the highest point of the ground that overlooked the mouth to Commercial Inlet, that is on the northwest corner of present day Front and Bastion Streets. Nanaimo was originally named Colvilletown.
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION:
1852-1853
ARCHITECT:
Leon Labine and Jean Baptiste Fortier. These two Quebecois were actually skilled axemen who were familiar with the architecture of the Hudson's Bay Company. Labine and Fortier supervised the construction of the Bastion. They also designed Fort Victoria.
CONTRACTOR:
The contractor is not known.
OWNER OF THE BUILDING
PAST: 1852-1862 Hudson's Bay Company
1862-1902 The Bastion was abandoned and was intermittently used as a jail by the colonial, provincial and city governments.
1906 The Bastion was purchased from the West Fuel Company by the Nanaimo post of the Native Sons of B.C.
PRESENT: 1912 Nanaimo Museum
1985 The Bastion is managed by the City of Nanaimo, but is still under the Native Sons of B.C., who reformed as the Nanaimo Bastion Museum Society. It is currently a museum.
USE OF THE BUILDING
PAST: 1852 The first floor of the Bastion was used as a company office. The second floor served as a defense arsenal. And the third, being the largest, was intended as a place of refuge for the HBC's employees and their families in the event of danger.
1857 or 1858 A temporary lock-up for minor offenses.
1862 A jail used by the colonial, provincial and city governments.
1873 Even though a proper jail house was built, the Bastion was used as an overnight jail and was also used for the overload. At this time, the Bastion adopted the name "Stewart's Hotel".
1906 The Native Sons of B.C. made the Bastion into a meeting place.
1912 It was turned into a historic site.
PRESENT: 1998 The Bastion is now a historic site. |
