Two roofers shed light on pieces of Nanaimo’s past when they discovered metal signs from a brewery dating back at least 100 years.
Alex Thompson and Brian Kuntz were tearing off layers of old roofing on a small house at the corner of Selby and Albert streets on Monday when they found hand-painted metal signs from the Union Brewing Company, a brewery that operated in Nanaimo from 1891 to 1919, had been used as flashing for the roof valleys and chimney.
One of the signs had been cut in half, but the artwork, which had been placed face-down, is well-preserved. There is even remnants of soot or coal dust on the metal.
Thompson said the sign was under several layers of shingles.
“It was under five layers of roof,” Thompson said. “So, the last layer was [cedar] shakes and that’s what was covering the bottom shakes.”
Kuntz took home the other sign that was found, which had a slightly different colour scheme.
“My buddy took the other one … it was a lot more yellow and red. This one’s a lot more gold and red, but like, it’s old, man. It’s all hand-painted,” Thompson said.
No signature of the artist is visible on the sign.
The Union Brewery was located where Nanaimo’s city hall now stands, not far from the house which was likely built sometime between 1900 and 1912, according to Christine Meutzner, manager of Nanaimo Community Archives.
“That kind of house was only built from around 1900 to, tops, 1912,” Meutzner said. “It’s basically the successor to the early miners’ cottages. This becomes your standard workers’ housing; square with a hip roof. It’s really simple to build and everybody builds them if they have no money because it’s really basic, but there’s a point where they stop building that style and it’s around 1912.”
Chris Sholberg, city heritage planner, found a record of an “improvement” made to the property in 1908 where the house now stands, which could be the date of the building’s construction.
Thompson said he plans to have the sign framed and displayed in his home.
“You’ll never find something like this ever again, probably,” he said.
photos@nanaimobulletin.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
