As 24 Sussex Dr., the long-time residence of Canada’s prime ministers, faces renovation after falling into disrepair, another former prime ministerial residence on the same Ottawa street is set for an overhaul.
But it’s going to be up to the British government to renovate Earnscliffe, the 1850s-era home that Sir John A. Macdonald bought in 1883, and where he died in 1891, while still in office as Canada’s first prime minister. Macdonald was the country’s leader for two non-consecutive periods, totalling almost 19 years, between 1867 and his death.
In 1930, after a succession of owners, the British government bought the property, with a dramatic view of the Ottawa River, as a residence for their high commissioners in Canada. They spent $90,000 on the purchase of the home in which British prime ministers and cabinet ministers visiting Canada have stayed.
It now sits on the grounds of the new British High Commission office complex that was opened in 2024, down the street from 24 Sussex.
The grand stone manor at 140 Sussex Dr. has been empty for two years, with the high commissioner living elsewhere, but now renovation looms for the former home of Macdonald, a key figure in Canadian history as one of the fathers of Confederation. His legacy, however, has been tarnished by such policies on his watch as the creation of the national residential-school system and the head tax on Chinese immigrants.
During a tour of the property this week, High Commissioner Rob Tinline said he is mindful of the historic value of the house, which is one of many heritage properties in Ottawa that foreign governments have secured as residences for diplomats. “Obviously, we have got a responsibility to the house, and to look after it in the best possible way,” he said.
The contract for renovating Earnscliffe is about to be completed, setting the stage for a project that Alex Turner, the manager for the Earnscliffe renovation, said will likely take until about 2029.
Mr. Turner, also on the tour, said that he cannot disclose the cost of the renovation project at this stage because the British government is waiting to announce who has secured contracts for the work, and expects they will provide cost estimates.
Mr. Tinline said there may be lessons for his government to learn from the renovation up the street. “It’s a house of a similar age,” Mr. Tinline said of 24 Sussex, which was built in the 1860s and eventually acquired by the Canadian government as a residence for prime ministers.
“So, they might come up against some of the problems that we come up against,” he added, referring to architects and designers who end up dealing with the property. “Maybe we can learn from each other.”
Down the street from Earnscliffe, 24 Sussex Drive is in a more dishevelled state. This is how it looked on a media tour this past June.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
After serving as home for prime ministers between 1951 and 2015, 24 Sussex fell into such decline that Justin Trudeau didn’t move in after leading his Liberals to power in 2015 and ended up living in Rideau Cottage on the grounds of Rideau Hall where governors-general live and work.
Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a fundraising drive to raise money to renovate 24 Sussex Dr. and a contest that will see a Canadian company or team of companies develop and execute that work.
Valérie Dufour, the manager of strategic communications for the National Capital Commission, which manages official residences in the Ottawa area, said in a statement that the commission has been in touch with the British on Earnscliffe.
“Over the past several months, we have met with high commission staff to share lessons learned, discuss challenges and highlight successful practices from the decommissioning project, with a view to informing their upcoming work,” she said in a statement.
Mr. Turner, who has visited 24 Sussex Dr. a few times, said many of the issues are akin to those at Earnscliffe.
Mr. Turner said issues with heating 140 Sussex precipitated the renovation effort. “What we found, bless her, was that the high commissioner’s daughter at the time was in her bedroom, in bed, wearing a set of gloves,” he said. “It’s not fair to expect someone to live here if it’s not comfortable from a heating point of view.”
While 24 Sussex Dr. was methodically gutted in 2023 and 2024 at the behest of the National Capital Commission, Earnscliffe today still feels like a house, albeit an old one, awaiting new residents. Owners over the years, including the British government, have left their mark, with wallpaper and other fixtures, but some rooms are key to the Macdonald era. There’s the room that served as his office. There’s the upstairs bedroom in which the prime minister died on June 6, 1891, after suffering a stroke.
On the second floor, there’s a bench beside the main staircase, from which the prime minister’s disabled daughter, Mary, could watch the proceedings of the house below. “We don’t want to remove that feature,” Mr. Turner said of the bench.
John A. Macdonald had a bench built for his daughter, whose brain disorder made her unable to walk. She died in England in 1933, not long after the British government's purchase of Earnscliffe.
Making the house more accessible is one of the goals of the renovation.
The exterior of the home, he said, will largely remain the same, but changes inside will include an apartment-style living space in the upper floors for the high commissioner and their family, separating family life from official functions on the main floor. Other upgrades include making the house more accessible and overhauling the basement kitchen that allows for meal service for major gatherings in the dining room. Iconic spaces such as the second-floor bedroom, where Macdonald died, will not be overly updated. That means, he joked, that IKEA furniture, for example, would not be introduced.
Mr. Turner said the process will be deliberate and thoughtful. “Very much our attitude is if we’re going to do this, we need to do it properly and we need to do it sensitively and it’s not worth rushing it,” he said. “Let’s get it right.”
Asked, during the tour, about whether there might be dramatic changes to Earnscliffe such as an extension to the main house, Mr. Tinline and Mr. Turner said, in near unison, “We’re not doing that.”
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