The foundation raising money to renovate 24 Sussex Dr. says it has received over $100,000 in donations since Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a plan on Friday to rebuild and restore the official residence for Canada’s prime ministers.
The Rideau Hall Foundation’s disclosure on Monday is the first indication of Canadians’ interest in supporting the project, as the foundation works toward raising $50-million to rebuild the 1860s-era property that was home to nine Canadian prime ministers between the 1950s and 2015.
The foundation said it received 211 online donations totalling just over $54,000, as well as an additional $50,000 in pledged donations, in the time between the Prime Minister’s news conference at 24 Sussex Dr. on Friday morning and Monday at noon.
Carney kicks off competition to renovate 24 Sussex Dr.
“We are humbled and moved by the unexpected influx of donations by Canadian individuals from coast to coast to coast over the weekend,” foundation president and chief executive Teresa Marques said in a statement.
The average dollar amount of the online donations was $257.
Ms. Marques said the foundation, a non-partisan, national charitable organization created to amplify the work of the Governor-General, will eventually share more information, including the names of donors.
Jill Clark, the senior manager of communications and media relations, said in an e-mail exchange that the cap for individual donations is set at 10 per cent of the project’s $50-million fundraising goal.
That means that no one individual donor could give more than $5-million, she said.
The foundation said that donations for the project can only be made by individuals and other charitable foundations.
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Corporate donations and anonymous donations are not being accepted. Also, donors must attest to being Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
The Rideau Hall Foundation’s website now includes a page on “Restoring 24 Sussex: A National Project for Future Generations,” which provides an option to make tax-deductible donations of between $50 and $1,000, and to give once or monthly.
The Prime Minister of Canada's official residence at 24 Sussex Dr. in Ottawa on June 26, 2026.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The Royal Architecture Institute of Canada will run a competition to pick a Canadian proponent to design the upgrade and carry out the rebuild, Mr. Carney said Friday.
Noted Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, whose works include Habitat 67 in Montreal and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, is leading a jury that will select a winner to be announced by Canada Day of 2027.
The jury members are Carol Bélanger, currently the city architect for Edmonton; Quebec architect Nicolas Demers-Stoddart; architect Omar Gandhi of Halifax; architectural designer Mamie Griffith, based in Manitoba; Patricia Kell, the Ottawa-based executive director for the National Trust for Canada; and Brigitte Shim, a principal at Shim-Sutcliffe Architects.
The Prime Minister’s announcement followed considerable debate about what to do with the residence, which has been cleared out by the National Capital Commission that manages official residences in the Ottawa area.
When Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015, the decline of 24 Sussex Dr. prevented Mr. Trudeau and his family from moving in. Instead, they settled in Rideau Cottage on the grounds of Rideau Hall where the Governor-General lives and works.
Mr. Carney now lives in Rideau Cottage. He said Friday he does not expect to ever live in the renovated 24 Sussex Dr., implying that the timelines for completing the project will extend beyond his tenure as Prime Minister.