About the restaurant and the history of the building
Demeter's Coffee Vault is the former Merchant's Bank, downtown Nanaimo. It was built in 1912. The structure has been restored and renovated to accomodate the bright airy coffee shoppe today. Demitri built the service counters, tables and bars from laminated birch salvaged from the old bowling lanes.
The Dunsmuirs would have approved.
Before 1982, Nanaimo had forgotton that this building, the old Merchant's Bank, had been designed by Francis Rattenbury, the famous architect of Victoria's Empress Hotel. The discovery was greeted with great excitement by heritage buffs. Talk of "brick quions", "corbelled friezes", and "keystone voussoir arches" filled the air.
The Dunsmuirs would have approved. The bank was built on the site of "Ardoon", the wealthy family's second Nanaimo home. The Bank of Montreal and the Credit Union have occupied the building as well.