Description of Historic Place

Stormont Lodge is a two-and-a-half storey Masonic lodge of wood-frame construction located in a rural setting in Isaac's Harbour, Nova Scotia. The municipal designation covers the building and surrounding property.

Heritage Value

The Stormont Lodge in Isaac’s Harbour, Nova Scotia was built in 1928, and is reminiscent of the days when the village was an active gold mining centre and commercial port. The Stormont Lodge is valued as a reminder of the importance of fraternal organizations in the region’s history. At one time the adjoining communities of Goldboro and Isaac’s Harbour supported eight separate lodges, only two of which remain today.

The building is built in a style common to the smaller fraternal lodges in the Atlantic region. It has a somewhat plain exterior in shingle cladding. Sash windows capped with moulded window hoods, an alternating shingle pattern and a large centrally-placed Masonic symbol are the only decoration on the front facade. At two-and-a-half storeys, it is a tall building intended to accommodate large groups.

Although a simple design, Stormont Lodge is an excellent intact example of a building type once very common in small Nova Scotia communities. The building continues to serve as a Masonic lodge and is still used as originally intended: the first floor includes a kitchen and dining area and the second floor is used for lodge meetings.

Source: Municipality of the District of Guysborough Heritage Property files, number 1027.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of Stormont Lodge relate to its use as a fraternal lodge building, including:

- concrete foundation;
- wood-frame, two-and-a-half storey construction with shingle cladding;
- symmetrically placed windows with original moulded window hoods on the front facade;
- little external decoration, except some alternating shingle design and the Masonic symbol over the front door.