Development work has simply began on 24 Sussex Drive, the prime minister’s official residence. The constructing has fallen right into a state of deep disrepair after years of neglect and inaction.
However the Nationwide Capital Fee (NCC), the federal physique liable for official residences, stated the brand new exercise should not be interpreted as a dedication to completely restoring the 150-year-old property that has housed ten of the nation’s prime ministers.
The NCC advised CBC Information this work have to be performed no matter what the federal government in the end decides to do with the heritage property.
Work began final week on stripping the property of asbestos and eradicating “out of date mechanical, heating and electrical techniques,” a NCC spokesperson stated. The rehabilitation work is anticipated to take a few 12 months.
The development exercise follows the fee’s determination to formally shutter the residence for well being and security causes.
Whereas the Gothic Revival-style dwelling, perched excessive above the Ottawa River, has been unoccupied for years, the property was nonetheless being utilized by some employees till its 2022 closure. It was additionally used to host backyard events on the house’s expansive two-hectare grounds.
However the once-stately property is now infested with rodents. The property additionally has been deemed a hearth hazard as a result of the property makes use of outdated “knob and tube” wiring from one other period.
A 2021 report concluded the residence is in “vital” situation and pegged the fee to finish “deferred upkeep” at $36 million. The report set the house’s “present substitute worth” at $40.1 million.
The destiny of the 34-room mansion is within the fingers of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cupboard.
Regardless of repeated pleas from heritage advocates, Trudeau has to this point signalled he has no plans to avoid wasting the constructing.
He is lived since 2015 at Rideau Cottage on the grounds of the Governor Basic’s residence — a comparatively small dwelling initially constructed for an aide.
The sorry state of 24 Sussex has heritage lovers feeling dejected.
David Flemming is the chair of Heritage Ottawa’s advocacy committee, a bunch decided to guard the capital’s constructed historical past.
He stated it is “atrocious” that Canada, a G7 nation with a $2 trillion economic system, does not have a functioning official residence for the pinnacle of presidency.
“The politicians making the choice — this isn’t their constructing. This belongs to the individuals of Canada,” Flemming advised CBC Information.
“Having a residence for the prime minister is simply the price of doing enterprise as a nation. The reality is we simply do not maintain our constructed heritage in excessive regard on this nation.”
Flemming stated his group has written letters to Trudeau asking him to make a name on the house’s destiny however their pleas have been repeatedly ignored.
“All we wish is for one thing to be performed. That is it,” he stated. “We simply need him to decide. Whether or not it is the prime minister’s residence or not, it must be saved as a public constructing.”
Flemming had pitched former governor normal David Johnston as a impartial arbiter to guide a panel of consultants to resolve on the house’s future.
Given the current controversy over Johnston’s function as particular rapporteur on overseas interference, Johnston’s possible “not the one now,” Flemming stated. However the concept nonetheless stands, he added — a distinguished panel of non-partisan individuals ought to resolve how greatest to revive the dilapidated landmark.
Christina Cameron, a professor and former Canada Analysis Chair in Constructed Heritage at Université de Montréal, agrees that 24 Sussex can and have to be saved.
She final noticed the house’s inside in 2018. On the time, she stated, the property appeared salvageable.
“There is not any purpose why that home could not be rehabilitated,” she stated.
“I believe it is actually unhappy. I’ve watched it over time and no prime minister needs to be seen investing in one thing for himself. I do not understand how we break the logjam but it surely’s vital that we do as a result of it is a dwelling that is vital to our nationwide story, to our narrative as a rustic.
“So many individuals vital to world historical past have crossed that doorstep, and we have all seen them pictured on that doorstep.”
Cameron stated Trudeau ought to commit to restoring the property and dictate that the work be performed on a deferred timeline in order that it is solely out there for the following occupant.
Trudeau might protect historical past whereas neutralizing claims that it is a self-serving determination, Cameron stated. Or, she stated, the house could possibly be re-purposed for public use. Both alternative would make it politically palatable for the present authorities, she stated.
“I believe the worst factor is to simply not do something,” she stated.
The residence has develop into one thing of a political scorching potato. The multi-million-dollar restoration price ticket has deterred each Trudeau and his predecessor, Stephen Harper, from doing something a few dwelling that dates again to Ottawa’s days as a lumber city.
Trudeau stated in April the federal government is working with “public servants as they chart a path ahead for the official residences.”
A spokesperson for Trudeau didn’t touch upon 24 Sussex’s future Friday, referring inquiries to Public Companies and Procurement Minister Helena Jaczek.
A spokesperson for Jaczek advised CBC Information that they “do not have a lot of an replace on 24 Sussex.”
“We proceed to work carefully with the Nationwide Capital Fee to develop a plan for the way forward for 24 Sussex Drive,” the spokesperson stated.
A minimum of one former resident, former prime minister Jean Chretien, has stated the house is “a humiliation to the nation” that must be restored.
Maureen McTeer, former prime minister Joe Clark’s spouse and writer of a ebook on Canada’s official residences, has stated the house is not price saving. The house’s inside was gutted a long time in the past and it is misplaced its historic worth, she stated in a 2015 interview.
Reached by e mail Thursday, McTeer stated she had no touch upon the house’s future.
Canada is an outlier amongst its allies on the subject of official residence repairs.
The British equal to 24 Sussex — 10 Downing Road — lately went by way of an in depth renovation.
The White Home was overhauled underneath former president Donald Trump.
The Lodge, the Austrian prime minister’s official Canberra residence, obtained hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in restoration work in 2016.
Stornoway, the official dwelling of the chief of the Official Opposition in Ottawa’s leafy Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood, can also be in good situation — it obtained tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in repairs as lately as 2020.
Whereas 24 Sussex has been left to rot, opposition leaders like Rona Ambrose, Andrew Scheer, Erin O’Toole, Candice Bergen and Pierre Poilievre have made use of Stornoway — an early twentieth century dwelling constructed by a outstanding grocer that later served as a brief home-in-exile for the Dutch Royal Household throughout the Second World Warfare.
“You realize, the federal authorities does have an excellent observe file once they do resolve to do restorations. We have some top-notch architects and conservation individuals,” Flemming stated.
“It simply takes some political will — and there is none of that proper now.”
