The Locke & Key House Filming Locations Guide: Welcome to Matheson Massachusetts
Locke and Key, set in the fictional town of Matheson, Massachusetts, was filmed in Toronto and in the colorful town of Lunenburg in Nova Scotia. However, the location of the Keyhouse, the ancestral home of the Locke family filled with intriguing doors and magic keys, exists only on the hard drive of those who designed it, as the manor seen in the show is basically a CGI composition.
Locke and Key is a fantastic comic book series, first published in 2008. It was created by writer Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, and finally turned into a series for Netflix. There have been several failed attempts to bring the dark fantastical world of the graphic novel to vivid life (there were shot three different pilots at various studios and a projected movie trilogy on the line).
Locke and Key is a fantastic comic book series, first published in 2008. It was created by writer Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez, and finally turned into a series for Netflix. There have been several failed attempts to bring the dark fantastical world of the graphic novel to vivid life (there were shot three different pilots at various studios and a projected movie trilogy on the line).
But it seems that Netflix has got it right this time: Locke & Key has been very well received by public and critics alike. The series has obtained very good reviews, praising its style crossing elements of the subgenre haunted-house with high school kids and a tone closer to the monsters of Stranger Things than to the scary The Haunting of Hill House.
The cast is composed by Jackson Robert Scott, Emilia Jones and Connor Jessup are taking on the leading roles of the three Locke siblings Bode, Kinsey and Tyler respectively. Darby Stanchfield plays their mother, Nina Locke. Laysla De Oliveira stars as the echo demon Dodge (the Well Lady), Sherri Saum as Ellie Whedon, Griffin Gluck as Gabe and Petrice Jones as Scot Cavendish.
This is our complete and updated filming locations guide, including all the places in Canada where Locke and Key was shot:
The cast is composed by Jackson Robert Scott, Emilia Jones and Connor Jessup are taking on the leading roles of the three Locke siblings Bode, Kinsey and Tyler respectively. Darby Stanchfield plays their mother, Nina Locke. Laysla De Oliveira stars as the echo demon Dodge (the Well Lady), Sherri Saum as Ellie Whedon, Griffin Gluck as Gabe and Petrice Jones as Scot Cavendish.
This is our complete and updated filming locations guide, including all the places in Canada where Locke and Key was shot:
The Locke and Key house: The Keyhouse
The Keyhouse is the key location of Locke and Key. We are sorry to disappoint you but the producers couldn't find the perfect house to play Locke's mansion; The exteriors have a lot of CGI, although executive producer Carlton Cuse told CBR.com that they built the exterior of the house in Toronto. It looks like sections of the front facade of the manor and the well lodge were assembled in an open space near the city. The interiors were built in a large soundstage at Cinespace Film Studios in Toronto. On the other hand, if you travel to Lunenburg, the town where the series was partially filmed, you will find many beautiful Victorian mansions that inspired the Keyhouse. It is possible to book a room in the Bluenose Lodge (pictured below), a restored historic Inn constructed circa 1863. This structure has some architectural elements and colors similar to the Keyhouse featured in the Netflix series.
Where is Locke and Key filmed? The Matheson town in Massachusetts
The picturesque Lunenburg port town in Nova Scotia doubles as Matheson Ma, the city where Locke and Key is set. Founded in 1753 by German, Swiss and British settlers, the super-cute and colourful old town of Lunenburg was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. The Nova Scotia website states that up to a seventy percent of the original colonial buildings built between the 18th and 19th centuries are still standing.
Image courtesy of Netflix - Town map
Several exteriors of Matheson were shot in Lunenburg, like the ice cream parlor, located in the central Montague St. This place was actually a real homemade ice cream shop called Sweet Treasures Confectionery, now permanently closed. You can also pass the night in the Salt Shaker Deli & Inn, featured in the first episode, located across the street. The white church from episode 9 is Lunenburg's Zion Lutheran Church at 65 Fox St.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps
The Locke & Key high school, the Matheson Academy, was filmed in the Humber College Lakeshore Campus, more exactly in the G Building Centre for Entrepreneurship. As the name of the campus suggests, the college is located on the shores of Lake Ontario, west of Toronto, and is part of the prestigious Humber Institute of Technology also known as Humber College. Have you heard about the ghost stories related to this place? The neo-Gothic buildings of the Lakeshore Campus are considered one of Toronto's most haunted sites. The grounds of the complex were home to the Mimico Branch Asylum for the critically mentally ill. Apparently, Several spectral apparitions have been associated with the old underground tunnels across campus, designed to transport supplies to each of the hospital wards via a mini railway. Image courtesy of Netflix and Google Maps
The high school Hall of the Matheson Academy is the library of the Wycliffe College in Toronto, an evangelical Anglican graduate theological school. This elegant building is situated in the central University of Toronto St. George Campus. The school, looking a bit like Harry Potter's Hogwarts (for those who haven't been in Cambridge and Oxford), was founded in 1877. Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
The big lounge with a Dj playing, where Dodge arrives on the second episode, was filmed inside the Rotunda of the Royal Ontario Museum, Queen's Park entrance. This is the Neo-Romanesque style building in Toronto with a modernist side that looks like a massive crystal rock embedded in the facade. The hall features one of the museum’s most magnificent architectural treasures, the spectacular mosaic dome. Image courtesy of Wyliepoon - Location
Some more scenes are recorded in the Ovens Natural Park in Feltzen South, also in Nova Scotia. The area features spectacular trails along the cliffs including these stairs taking to the sea caves. By the way that Matheson is a industrial supplier of industrial gases that has nothing to do with the name of the Locke and Key town set in Massachusetts. Image courtesy of Netflix - Filming Location
The McClellan Psychiatric Hospital exterior was filmed in the Sisters of St. Joseph motherhouse on Dundas' Northcliffe Road near Hamilton. Image courtesy of Netflix - Map
Can you help to improve this article about the shooting locations of Locke and Key? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!
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Do you want more Locke & Key? Here is a link to the Volume 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
comic-book novel. This slipcase set
comes packed with six softcover volumes of the Locke & Key series. The Covers of Gabriel Rodriguez
is a very special issue, including gorgeous art from the series co-creator:
comic-book novel. This slipcase set
comes packed with six softcover volumes of the Locke & Key series. The Covers of Gabriel Rodriguez
is a very special issue, including gorgeous art from the series co-creator:
13 comments
No mention that Humber College Lakeshore Campus (Matheson Academy) in Etobicoke (not Toronto) was originally a legit insane asylum, and is itself HELLA haunted? Google it. It's messed up.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, we added this interesting story to the article!
DeleteThe visual effects in this show are quite remarkable. What's also remarkable is the utter stupidity of the characters. There are sooo many instances where the plot would fall apart if not for an incredibly stupid act by one or more of the characters. Usually one or even two such mishaps could be over looked, but it seems this is a major plot element to keep things going. Just when everyone appears to have a leg up on the antagonist, someone does something absolutely and ridiculously stupid to give away their advantage in order to keep the story going. So much so, that the show at times becomes overly frustrating. I will continue to watch for the good things, but wish the writers would smarten up the script. The actors are very good in being able to do such stupid omissions of thought with a straight face. Its a fun ride if you can use the Head Key to get out or your own head.
ReplyDeleteWell said. Or well lady said, lol!
DeleteYep, certain parts of the script are off-key :D
DeleteAbsolutely agree!
DeleteI go to Humber college,a I remember from when they filmed it. Where they shot the outside school scenes there is a house that looks almost exactly like key house. That's where I thought they filmed it.. thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteWhere? Is there a street name that I can use to look on Google maps? I am kind of obsessed with this show.
DeleteHello Spencer! are you talking about the Cumberland House? It doesn't look too much like the Keyhouse, but it has some similar architectural features. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/EGLqfKjoYbuieNaW7
DeleteWhy have they not gone back to talk to Great grandpa yet? Hellllllloooo (I’m on episode 6)
ReplyDeleteThe outside of the McClellan Psychiatric Hospital is filmed at the Sisters of St. Joseph on 574 Northcliffe Ave in Hamilton, Ontario.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, thanks a lot!
DeleteDoes anyone know when they filmed in Lunenberg? I was there in May 2019 and went to that ice cream shop and loved the place. I instantly recognized it when I watched the show. Do we know why it closed?!? I was so looking forward to going back in September of this year :(
ReplyDeleteAll comments are reviewed prior to publication