From 1951 to 2015, 24 Sussex Dr. was the official residence of the Prime Minister.Tom Hanson/The Canadian Press
Work to gut the prime minister’s official Ottawa residence is to be done by next month, but there’s no sign of any decision on the long-term fate of 24 Sussex Dr.
Key players in the fate of the house, the official home of prime ministers from Louis St. Laurent in 1951 to Stephen Harper in 2015, each said no decisions have been made on the matter.
“As you know, the [National Capital Commission] presented options for the future of the official residence of the prime minister of Canada to the government and is awaiting a government decision,” Valérie Dufour, a senior strategic communications manager for the commission, said in a statement.
Jeremy Link of Public Services and Procurement Canada said that the federal government continues to assess options for the future of 24 Sussex Dr. “However, no decision has been made at this time. Further information will be made available in due course,” Mr. Link said in a statement on Thursday.
After a little more than a year of work, the capital commission (NCC) , which oversees the official residences of the prime minister, governor-general, leader of the official opposition and speaker of the House of Commons, says it has hit several milestones in its $4.3-million effort to decommission 24 Sussex, which was built in 1868 and, decades later, purchased as a residence by the federal government.
Health and safety issues have raised concerns about anyone living in the property. After Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister in 2015, he declined to move his family into the home, and they have since lived in nearby Rideau Cottage on the grounds of Rideau Hall, the estate where the Governor-General lives.
At 24 Sussex, the NCC says heritage fabric has been removed, catalogued and stored. Asbestos has been removed. And obsolete mechanical, heating and electrical systems have also been cleared out.
Work still to be done at the house includes insulating exterior walls and installing electric heat pumps to protect the building.
Ms. Dufour said a few areas of the residence have been excluded from the decommissioning effort because of their heritage significance and the need for a decision on the future of the residence. “They were protected in situ.” She did not elaborate despite a request for clarification.
Beyond the actual house, there are plans to work on other assets on the site, including a coach house at 10 Sussex Dr. that was built between 1867 and 1868 and is now being used as a site office for the project’s construction manager.
A pool house built on the site when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister has not been affected by the ongoing work, Ms. Dufour’s statement said.
Former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper volunteered to lead a campaign to raise the money to restore the residence, but the current Prime Minister’s office did not take them up on the possibility.
The NCC has chronicled the decline of the property from neglect and has said it would cost about $36.6-million to properly renovate the building.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said that solving the issue of 24 Sussex would not be a high priority were he to become prime minister.
Marc Denhez, the president of Historic Ottawa Development Inc., a nonprofit organization that supports the rehabilitation of prominent old buildings in the nation’s capital, said 24 Sussex should end up taking on a role connected to the office of the prime minister.
In an interview, Mr. Denhez said that could be a residence or office, with the existing building fixed up for 21st-century functions.
He said he hopes that, behind the scenes, the parties relevant to the fate of 24 Sussex Dr. are doing their homework on what to do with it.
He said doing the homework means a full assessment of the building’s condition and comparison of other options for housing the prime minister.
“Bottom line is if they have a number of candidates that they are thinking of as possible alternatives to 24 Sussex, then let them be compared, and let them be compared through an independent analysis,” he said.