Description of Historic Place

MacDonald House was built in 1830 and is a one-and-one-half storey, three
bay façade, Scottish style wood building located at Highland Village, a
living history museum complex, located on Cape Breton Island, in Iona, NS.
The designation applies only to the house and a portion of land that
surrounds it, as noted in the Description of Boundaries. Other buildings
within Highland Village are not includedin the designation.

Heritage Value

MacDonald House is valued as one of the few surviving, and largely unaltered, examples of the Scottish architectural style. The MacDonald House is typical of houses built by immigrant Scots in Cape Breton in the early part of the nineteenth century. This Scottish style, one-and-one-half storey wood building has a centrally placed chimney, a field stone foundation and a central door with transom and a three-panel fanlight.

The house was first built in Stewartdale, Inverness County and in the 1970’s it was dismantled, moved and rebuilt in Highland Village, a living history museum and cultural centre.

Source: Notice of Registration of Property as a Provincial Heritage Property, Provincial Property Heritage File no. 99.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements of Mac Donald House as a Scottish style house include:

- one-and-one-half storey, wood construction with a stacked field stone foundation;
- steeply pitched gable roof, with wooden shingles and a centrally placed chimney;
- wooden clapboard exterior with corner boards and return eaves;
- transom with three-panel fanlight;
- three bay façade with six-over-six and three-over-three windows.