They’re trashing Sir John A.’s home

Re: Architects go through design gauntlet in planning new British High Commission at Earnscliffe property, Jan. 13.

Yet another signature heritage property in Ottawa will soon suffer the fate of modernization. Earnscliffe, the historic home of John A. MacDonald, situated on the Ottawa River, is about to be saddled with a modern square box not 50 feet away.

What the British High Commission fails to mention in its Jan. 13 press release to the Citizen is the high-security fences which will surround the new building, totally obscuring the stately house; the destruction of the showcase gardens which thousands visit every year at Doors Open Ottawa; the over 20 trees which will have to be cut down to make way; the parking lot and drives which will replace the cooling summer green space; the impact of the change to the river frontage; and the tenuous stability of the limestone cliff on which the building’s foundations are to be located.

In other words, the property is about to become a compound, closed to Canadians, and an eyesore. Well, this is not new: see the recent plans for the new addition to the Château Laurier. Are there not enough empty office spaces centrally located in Spark Street? Oh, but it’s a security issue, one hears. Surely that can be accommodated in this age of electronic surveillance.

It is not cost-effective, one hears. Is spending British taxpayers’ money for a new building cost-effective? And all for an executive penthouse office overlooking the river.

Nice view, but for whom, one wonders. Roll over, John A., they’re about to trash your home.

Hélène Labbé, Ottawa