In Praise of Commercial Street
Daniel Appell: April 26, 2011
A recent nomination to “Great Places in Canada” competition and a subsequent shortlisting has inspired me to write on the virtues of Commercial Street.
Commercial Street is a graceful remnant of our Georgian heritage. Now, it is hard to imagine its inspiration, but it was a purpose built street. It was designed and built to expedite commerce. Designed at a time when most people walked to the shops to get their supplies. At a time when pedestrians dominated traffic, the road was purposefully made wide enough to accommodate carriages. As carriages gave way to cars and cars got wider this street was able to accommodate the change.
The width of Commercial Street is important. It was wider then the streets that feed into it. Starting from the south, Wharf, Skinner, Bastion and Church are all narrow and have become interesting side streets, supporting the main street. However, Commercial Street, in its traditional form was not too wide. Designing a successful shopping street is a delicate art requiring moderation and balance. We see in the most recent construction of the library square (Diana Krall Plaza) and the conference centre the width between buildings on opposite sides of the street has been extended beyond the point where shopping becomes a comfortable and entertaining activity.
In many other ways the recent construction violates the principles of retail street design, but this is a study of what makes Commercial Street a good shopping street. For now, let’s ignore the most recent constructions.
Aside from its traditional width, Commercial Street has a number of other features that work in its favour. It has a very slight incline. Normally, this would be a disadvantage, but the incline is not so steep as to make walking a chore for most people. And it is steep enough to make the disposition of buildings against the natural grade interesting.
The curve of the street also works in its favour. The elegant crescent reveals itself in bits, allowing our curiosity to compel us further.
The older buildings are many and varied, and provide visual satisfaction while we walk. The details are not so overwhelming or fussy to cause distraction, but fine enough and varied enough to provide some bit of interest.
The buildings are low enough to allow for longer parts of the day to be sun lit. The slope is south facing and the orientation is mostly south to north allowing (as much as is possible in this climate) to enjoy warm and sunny days here.
The shape and orientation of Commercial Street have made it a very durable shopping street. For as long as Commercial Street was Nanaimo’s “main street,” other centres have moved their primary shopping streets two or three times. Commercial Street remained a “main street” shopping destination long after other urban centres gave up that obligation to shopping malls in the suburbs.
My understanding of the ‘science’ behind shopping street design, is derived from the study of shopping mall design. Throughout my formative years shopping streets were in decline. But the science of shopping malls was derived first by a study of shopping streets very much like the one we have here. Its interesting to note that if one took a map of Commercial Street and the properties along its length, one would have the perfect shape for a shopping mall. If one made allowances for the fact that a shopping mall is an interior pedestrian space, and reduced the scale by 20% one would have the perfect size for a shopping mall.
I must say that Commercial Street has proven to be remarkably resilient. I was one who predicted a quick demise of the street after the introduction of the conference centre. Despite the conference centre, Commercial Street has been much more stable then expected. While it hasn’t thrived, it has managed to continue a transition from a “main street” as a place that sells almost everything, both necessities and extras; to a tad more gentrified shopping street which tends to sell the extras only. Given the limitations imposed on the street by the conference centre and the library square, the survival of businesses and the introduction of new businesses, is a remarkable achievement. This is one of those many instances where I have to admit I was wrong, and I’m happy to do so.
The future of Commercial Street seems to be fairly secure. As the population in the downtown and surrounding neighbourhoods increases, Commercial Street will see a healthy revival. A number of other initiatives could also improve prospects for our lovely and tuff little street: 1) remodel and repurpose our conference centre to improve the performance of the retail portion of it; 2) Fill in the Diana Krall Plaza with retail allowing access to the plaza from Wharf Street; 3) develop a passenger boat connection from downtown Vancouver to downtown Nanaimo; 4) redesign the bus system to speed suburban residents to our downtown; and 5) Continue to encourage a return of residential living to our downtown and the surrounding neighbourhoods.
When it was announced that Commercial Street was shortlisted for the competition “Great Places in Canada” I was pleasantly surprised. The truth is; its a damn good little street, and it deserves the recognition.
Posts and Comments on Nanaimo Governance 
Interesting post.
I have long contended that Commercial Street & Front Street should be the “Old City Quarter”.
When considering all things Nanaimo, they all gravitate to the waterfront Why not cash in that that? Fill in from the front(harbour) !
re: Robert Barron: Commercial Street deserves credit, from Lewis N. Villegas who has had considerable experience with Commercial Street.
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Robert and I had a great chat a few years back, and he portrays a faithful account of our discussions. However, there are other inaccuracies in the story that I must point out:
It had been said many times during that period of decline, which began in the 1950s, that you could fire a cannon up the middle of Commercial Street after 5 p.m. and not hit a single soul as life and commerce drained away from the city’s core to its outlying regions.”
1. Firing canon down an urban street was a feat attributed to the young Lieutenant in the French Army in the late 18th century by the name of Bonaparte. Two of the remarkable features of Commercial Street in Nanaimo would make it impossible for the best artillery of any century to hit a target at any considerable distance: (a) the street rises; and (b) the street curves. This is not the expedient platting of the CPR engineers we see in Nanaimo, it is something altogether different. The pattern of the downtown streets betray a deep understanding of how the lay of the land will meet the fall of the pedestrian’s stride.
2. The decade of decline quoted is a bit of interested speech. When my architecture class camped in Newcastle Island for two weeks in August 1982, and made daily trips to our workshop site at the foot of Commercial, all the talk in the town of Mayor Frank Ney was about the 5 shopping centres located minutes up the Island Highway. That kind of retail pressure was evident in every major centre across North America, and the tales of decline were most often perpetrated by those with a vested interest in attracting new tenants to their out-of-the-centre centres. The suburbanization of our population base, and the changes wrought on the original townsite districts to accommodate the automobile (including running a highway through downtown Nanaimo) finished the job started by this interested speech of “decline”. By the time we had done engineering the old places for the new cars, no one in their right mind would chose to live there, and the exodus was on. The strategy worked beautifully. Land could be had cheaply and assembled to build stuff of an entirely different scale.
3. The only thing that is apparent walking in Commercial Street today is that the new stuff has made it so that the historic stuff looks totally out of place. Whatever else can be said of the injuries of opening a new street on Commercial, disrupting the continuity of enclosure of the street wall, the simple and obvious fact visible to every eye is that the new stuff (including the Library) is not In Keeping with the scale and character to the historic grain of Nanaimo’s urbanism.
4. Those of us who were part of the effort to stop such construction are not in a good position to assess its success or failure today. “The first annual Great Places in Canada contest” could count itself lucky to have Nanaimo as one of its “listed sites”. The mix of rationalism of the grid in the outlying quarters, with the laser-like focus of the radiating avenues terminating vistas of the bay, and the unmatched artistry of the platting of streets and lanes to render vividly the walking experience of place in the downtown blocks is really without equal in in Western Canada or North America. One has to go Bath, England, or to the medieval hill towns to partake of a like urban experience.
Of course, folks there don’t like modernist towers.
I think the facelift we got for a mere $100 million is quite pleasing. I live in the Townsite area, and except for taking in our delightful waterfront, there is nothing commercial downtown that would draw me. Neither, would I invest money opening a business on Commercial Street, unless of course it were yet another coffee shop. The downtown merchants will likely have to rely on local foot traffic, as driving downtown to shop if you need to park a car, is still a challenge. The true downtown retail trading area, is likely limited to foot traffic mostly.
That reminds me; a sixth point on my list would be revise the parking policy. Fining people who wish to extend their stay downtown is complete stupidity. Pay as you leave is the only parking policy we should ever consider.
I agree; “true downtown retail trading area, is likely limited to foot traffic.” But then, its damn hard to sell anything to anybody while they’re in a car.
Thanks for the reminder, Jim.
Well, I live downtown, walk downtown and shop downtown: damn fine street.
I miss Home Hardware that moved to Brooks some years ago.
The aesthetics of the gentle slope and curve couldn’t possibly have been planned!
It’s 1850’s beginnings, though, and that places it in the Victorian era not Georgian.
Hope it gets top recognition . . .
I cannot speak to Nanaimo life in the 50’s but it takes little effort to experience the dying downtown of 2011.
A short walk or drive from Nichol through town & one will see closed stores, for sale signs & for rent signs by the score.
Add to this the expanding pawn shops & thrift stores & we have a recipe for depression..
Adding parking will not help. Down town needs more bodies to feed from. Without densifying we are wasting our time & tax dollars.
My first experience with Commercial was the early ’50’s when family moved here.
Later, 1959 to 1963, as architect for NRGH, our consultant team would regularly lunch on “Thu Street”.
Even in 1998 when I came to live here permanently it was still very active.
Believe me it was a going concern until about 2000.
Then Home Hardware moved to Brooks Landing. The stationary store (forget it’s name) moved shortly after.
Councillor Ted Grieves was recently elected on a platform to “rejuvenate downtown”. He has a tough row to hoe to overcome Diane Krall and VICC.
Nevertheless I enjoy walking that curving slope almost daily. The crescent, bowl, is a site responsive plat set out by “anonymous” that feeds into it. The topog, the incidental jog from Skinner, the end vista of what was Eaton’s could never be planned today: the scale, the variegated unintended effect of the “haphazard” fronting facades all shape a low key ” hands off, leave it be” delight.
For all it’s self-inflicted wounds it is still a extraordinary street.
I hope it gets the nod.
It has absolutely fantastic potential, but I think perhaps it will be several decades before you see that realized.
In addition to better parking, there has to be reasons to GO downtown. I live in Townsite, and find that Terminal Park or Brooks Landing quite adequately supply my daily shopping needs, and can think of very few retailers that would draw me downtown.
I moved here in 1970, and well remember when Commercial St., Sears and Eatons were THE place to shop on weekends. There was a much smaller Terminal Park, and a small mall at Brooks Landing which used to be called Northbook Mall. That was IT for retailing in Nanaimo.
But then we PROGRESSED and look at us now!! Parksville had the right idea.