A TIMELINE OF TROUBLES AT 24 SUSSEX DRIVE

1868

Lumber baron Joseph Merrill Currier commissions a limestone house for his new wife, Hannah Wright. The house, built in Gothic Revival style, is situated near the forests and river that helped make Currier’s fortunes and is called “Gorffwysfa,” Welsh for “place of peace.” Currier dies in 1884. Hannah remains in the home until her death in 1901.

1902

Deeming the home too expensive to maintain and too far from town, Currier’s son James sells the mansion to lumber baron William Cameron Edwards for the unheard of sum of $30,000.

1907-09

Edwards adds a turret, a curved window on the second floor and a covered entrance, giving the home a “chateauesque” appearance, government documents indicate.

1921

After the deaths of William Edwards and his wife, Catherine, the mansion is left to a nephew, Gordon Cameron Edwards, who will be the last private owner of the house.

1943

With all eyes distracted by the Second World War, the federal government moves to expropriate the home, the last privately held property along Sussex between Rideau Falls and Rideau Hall, so that it will not “become commercialized.” Contrary to common belief, the elderly Edwards is happy to leave the large old home, quibbling only over the speed of the deal and the price.

1946

After a three-year court battle, Edwards is awarded $140,000 plus costs of $7,319.95, up from the $125,000 first offered by the government, but nowhere near the $251,190 he’d wanted. Six months later, Edwards dies at 24 Sussex.

1948

Allward and Gouinlock, a pioneering modernist Toronto architectural firm, is hired to renovate. The updates are not sympathetic to the existing structure or character, erasing the Gothic style. The $400,000 alterations include updates to plumbing and heating.

1950

The government decides that 24 Sussex will become the official residence of the prime minister.

1951

The home is presented as a fait accompli to prime minister Louis St. Laurent, who would prefer to keep renting at Roxborough Apartments.

1968-1979

During the Trudeau area, Public Works spends $850,345.93 on the property. In 1973 the 20-yearold kitchen is replaced with a “restaurant-style” set up. In 1975, a $200,000 pool house and sauna, joined to the main house by underground tunnel, are added. The addition is paid for by anonymous donors, unknown to this day.

1980

Maureen McTeer, wife of prime minister Joe Clark, invites camera crews into the nine-bedroom home for a TV special.

1984-1993

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his wife Mila come under criticism for decoration and renovations at 24 Sussex and Harrington Lake. A $150,000 deal to sell furniture they had bought for 24 Sussex to the government is quashed. They donate their furniture on leaving office.

1988

Responsibility for 24 Sussex is formally transferred to the NCC from Public Works.

1993

As Jean Chrétien moves in, the NCC updates by adding a coat of paint to some areas of the house and decorating with items formerly used in far-flung embassy residences.