History

Our History

Founded in 1959, we have fought to save some of the most architecturally and culturally significant structures in the province. These include the stone warehouses on the Halifax waterfront which are now Historic Properties, the Lent House in Freeport, the Carleton Hotel in Halifax, and numerous others. We have advocated for strong heritage preservation legislation at the municipal, provincial and national levels. We have also provided support for the designation of more than a hundred heritage structures across the province.

Building on our long history of work in built heritage preservation we maintain a reference collection of materials connected to the preservation of Built Heritage in Nova Scotia and beyond.

The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia was formed in 1959 in direct response to the proposed demolition of Enos Collins’ Halifax House Gorsebrook (see photo), an outstanding Georgian-style home that stood on the site of today’s Saint Mary’s University hockey rink . Those who formed the Trust were determined to arrest the random decimation of Nova Scotia’s built heritage.

Our Logo

The Griffin has been our logo since July of 1959, four months after our founding in March of that year. The logo was designed by artist, author, and principal of the Nova Scotia College of Art, Donald Cameron MacKay. MacKay was a heraldic specialist and provided the following explanation of his heraldically influenced design:

Vert, a griffin, segreant, regardant on armed and langued azure – bearing the flag of Nova Scotia, argent a saltire azure, an inescutcheon or, double tressurer fluery-counter fluery, a lion rampant gules. A gold griffin with a blue beak and claws holding the flag of Nova Scotia. The griffin was the guardian of ancient treasure, here he is shown bearing the flag of Nova Scotia, advancing to the future but regarding the past. He is represented as the fore part of an eagle, with Ears, and the powerful hindquarters of the lion. — D. C. M.

The copyright for the Griffin’s design was transferred from MacKay to the Trust upon his death. By the early 1970s, the Trust had adopted a modernized version of the Griffin which was used on Trust publications. This modernized logo was then digitized and incorporated into the Trust’s 2021 brand refresh.

The original drawing of the Griffin logo
by Donald Cameron MacKay.