Iraqi embassy won’t demolish residence
Home to be restored ‘in keeping with the original heritage’
The Iraqi government is giving up on its attempt to demolish the former home of the country’s ambassador in Rockcliffe Park, its ambassador announced Friday.
The low-slung house on Lansdowne Road was built in the 1960s for grocery magnate Bertram Loeb and got special consideration from the city because Rockcliffe is designated a “heritage conservation district.” A long diplomatic freeze after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991 left the house empty for more than a decade, during which it began to fall apart.
But in the opinion of an expert working for the city, it is structurally sound and able to be restored — albeit at a cost possibly exceeding that of building a new place more in keeping with the modern sensibility Iraq’s new government wants to project.
Go right ahead and demolish it, the city’s formal advisory group on heritage buildings said last year, but it was overruled by city council, which was swayed by neighbours objecting to what it would mean for the character of their street.
The Iraqis appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board, which can overrule city council planning decisions, but withdrew that appeal Friday.
“The Iraqi government has withdrawn it to respect the decision of the City of Ottawa,” said the embassy’s second secretary, who cited Iraqi foreign-ministry rules for diplomats in refusing to give his name.
“In light of the heritage significance of the property, the Government of Iraq is pleased to announce that it will restore its residence in keeping with the original heritage of the property,” Ambassador Abdulrahman Al-Husseini said in a written statement.
The second secretary said the OMB appeal was filed only to keep options open while the foreign ministry decided what to do. No restoration plans have been decided, he said.
The plans for the residence are separate from the embassy’s plans for its main building on McLeod Street, which it wants to demolish and replace with a new building styled like a glassy ziggurat, an allusion to Iraq’s Mesopotamian history.