LOWE, Henry Caleb (1849-1939) was a leading contractor and builder in Prince Edward Island who worked in collaboration with his younger brother Samuel Lowe (1851-1926). Together, the Lowe Brothers company was a dominant force in the construction industry in the Maritimes for more than fifty years. Their successful business grew rapidly in the 1870's, and they created their own architectural drafting department which produced designs for buildings over a sustained period of time from 1880 until 1920 and beyond. Several newspaper articles describing their own works often refer to them as “architects”, an indication that they were capable of designing as well as constructing a variety of structures based on their own plans. In addition, they were frequent collaborators with other leading architects in Charlottetown, including David Stirling, C.B. Chappell, Lemuel J. Phillips, W.C. Harris, and E.S. Blanchard.
Henry C. Lowe was born in Charlottetown on 20 August 1849, and was the son of William Lowe (1811-1887), a native of Norfolk, England who emigrated to the Island in 1832. He was an architect and joiner of Charlottetown who likely trained his two sons in the building trades. His elder son Henry died in Charlottetown on 18 January 1939 (obituary Charlottetown Guardian 19 Jan. 1939, 1; obit Contract Record [Toronto], lii, 1 Feb. 1939, 30). Samuel Lowe was born in Charlottetown in 1851 and later died there on 14 December 1926 (obituary Charlottetown Guardian, 15 December 1926, 3). Together, they served as contractors for some the largest and most important institutional, ecclesiastical and commercial buildings in the province including Prince of Wales College, Central Christian Church, Heartz Memorial Hall, the Protestant Orphanage, Macdonald Consolidated School, the Provincial Sanatorium, the Desbrisay Block, and the Cameron Block (inf. Miss Eleanor M. Lowe, Charlottetown; inf. Harry Holman, Charlottetown).
(works in Charlottetown, P.E.I. unless noted)
HILLSBOROUGH STREET, at Euston Street, a double residence for Henry Lowe and Samuel Lowe, 1875 (Parks Canada, Canada's Historic Places, designated 26 Oct. 1979)
EUSTON STREET, near Prince Street, residence for George Hughes, 1883 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown], 30 Nov. 1883, 2, descrip.)
FITZROY STREET, residence for C.D. Rankin, 1886 (Weekly Patriot [Charlottetown], 1 April 1886)
MILTON, P.E.I., rectory for St. John's Anglican Church, 1889 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown], 13 Nov. 1889, 1)
QUEEN STREET, new facade and extensive alterations to store for Hon. Thomas W. Dodd, 1891 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown], 5 Jan. 1892, 2, descrip.)
ROCHFORT STREET, near St. Peter's Church, residence for Henry Hine, 1892 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown], 5 Jan. 1892, 2, descrip.)
SIDMOUNT AVENUE, remodeling of 'Sidmount House', the residence of Frederick Peters, 1892 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown], 5 Jan. 1892, 2)
BRIGHTON ROAD, enlargement and remodeling of the residence of Chief Justice W.W. Sullivan, 1892 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown], 5 Jan. 1892, 2, descrip.)
KENT STREET, outdoor ceremonial arch for the visit of Lord & Lady Aberdeen, 1897 (Daily Examiner [Charlottetown],11 Aug. 1894, 3; inf. Harry Holman, Charlottetown)
GRAFTON STREET, in Sunnyside, new facade for the retail store of D. Gordon & Co., 1911 (Charlottetown Guardian, 12 Aug. 1911, 9)