Description of Historic Place

The Colin Locke House is a one-and-one-half storey Greek Revival style house of wood frame construction. It is located on South Street and surrounded by mature trees on a hillside in the Town of Lockeport, Nova Scotia. Municipal heritage designation applies to the house and the lot on which it is situated.

Heritage Value

The Colin Locke House is valued for its historical ties to the Locke family, and particularly to Colin Locke, original owner of this property. It is also valued for its intact Greek Revival architecture.

Colin Locke was a great-grandson of Dr. Jonathan Locke, one of the original settlers of the area that was originally called Ragged Islands, and a son of Samuel Locke, whose name is prominently associated with the nearby Locke Family Streetscape. Most of the men of the Locke family were involved in sea trade, including Colin Locke, who was prominent as a West Indies and South American trader during the mid-nineteenth century. He had this house built within a year after his marriage in 1858, and presumably before the first of his eleven children was born in 1860. He lived in this house until his death in July 1908, after which his widow, A. Jane (Shey) Locke, occupied it until 1929. The property has remained in the family since it was built, presently being owned by great-grandchildren of Colin Locke.

This house is located at the end of a long lane, up a hill behind the houses in the Locke Family Streetscape, which consists of five waterfront properties that were all built for Locke family members, four of them children of Samuel Locke. Although this house was also built for one of Samuel Locke’s children it is not included in the Streetscape because it is surrounded by trees and not visible from the road. Also located on this property is what is referred to as the Pioneer Cemetery, where there are at least sixteen graves, mostly of family members. Dr. Jonathan Locke and his wife, four of their children, two grandchildren and some of their spouses are interred here, as there was no other burial ground established in the community until the late eighteen-forties. Local lore says that the hill itself on which the property is located is also of historical importance because it was from the crest of the hill that defence of the community from privateers was carried out in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The Greek Revival architecture of the Colin Locke House is most evident in its one-and-one-half storey wood frame construction, front gable plan, and medium pitched gable roof. Double-hung sash windows, an off-centre main entrance and a three bay façade are also typical of the style.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files, “Colin Locke House”, located at the Town of Lockeport Municipal Office.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Colin Locke House include:
- location on a hill overlooking Lockeport Harbour;
- proximity to the Locke Family Streetscape;
- mature trees surrounding the house;
- notable setback from road.

The character-defining elements of the Greek Revival architecture of the Colin Locke House include:
- one-and-one-half storey wood frame construction with wood clapboard and trim;
- medium pitched gable roof with decorative verge trim;
- three bay façade with off-centre entrance;
- double-hung sash windows;
- lower one-and-one-half storey off-centre ell in back;
- partially enclosed wraparound porch on north, east and west sides;
- secondary entrance in back ell.