Change of Address
The NCC could always expropriate another home — but which one?
BUILDING A NEW HOME on the grounds of 24 Sussex is not the only alternative to renovations estimated at $10 million seven years ago. The NCC could, in theory, buy — or more likely expropriate — another existing home and adapt it to fit.
There is a significant precedent: 24 Sussex itself was expropriated by the federal government in the 1940s.
But is there anything in Ottawa’s stock of grand homes that might be a more cost-effective alternative to renovating 24 Sussex?
Ottawa’s most expensive home is not a likely candidate; expropriating Michael and Marlen Cowpland’s Rockcliffe Park residence could likely run the government $14 million or more (not counting the legal costs of the inevitable court battle). And while the 20,000-square-foot home — all glass and golden arches — might be said to have a place in the high-tech history of Ottawa, not to mention serving as a setting for Marlen Cowpland’s short-lived TV series Celebrity Pets, as a prime minister’s residence, it lacks a certain gravitas.
The gracious brick house of Ottawa developers Sean Murray and Jamilah Taib on Manor Avenue is a better prospect. Newer than the Cowpland estate, you can bet it has working air conditioning, and it’s a steal based on its 2016 assessed value of $11 million. It offers about the same living space as 24 Sussex, though its one-acre lot is a quarter the size of the current home’s lot.
Something a little older, perhaps? How about 400 Acacia Ave. in Rockcliffe Park, built in 1930 and owned by the U.S. government, and which was extensively renovated in recent years? Sure, the public spaces are a little more cramped than prime ministers have been used to, and it sits on only three-quarters of an acre, but it has eight bedrooms and was recently listed for a mere $4,750,000. That leaves a lot of wiggle room for renovations.
Some historians think the best alternative to 24 Sussex is just down the road at 140 Sussex. Earnscliffe, a gracefully maintained Victorian beauty handsomely situated between the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and the National Research Council, has been the home of successive British High Commissioners to Canada since 1930. Built the year Ottawa was incorporated (1855) and once the home of Sir John A. Macdonald, its pedigree and, by all accounts, its upkeep, are considerably superior to the current PM’s residence.
But it would take a pretty piece of diplomacy to convince the U.K. foreign service to swap for 24 Sussex. – Tony Atherton