Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Friday a plan to restore 24 Sussex Drive, Canada’s long-vacant and deteriorating official prime ministerial residence, through a design competition and a national fundraising campaign, with restoration costs estimated at more than C$100 million ($71 million; £53 million).
The 19th-century Gothic Revival mansion in Ottawa has sat uninhabitable for more than a decade due to years of deferred maintenance. Workers in 2024 successfully removed asbestos, mold and rodents from the building, but it still requires extensive work before it can reopen, Carney said.
“The residence has not been cared for with the respect that it deserves,” Carney said during his announcement Friday. He added that while it is likely too late for him to take up residence at 24 Sussex, his government wants to ensure it becomes a “secure, accessible and sustainable official residence” for future prime ministers.
The building, constructed in 1867, has served as the home of 10 prime ministers and hosted world leaders including Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Winston Churchill. Both Carney and his predecessor Justin Trudeau chose to live at Rideau Cottage, a government-owned residence nearby, rather than occupy the deteriorating mansion.
The restoration plan includes a design and build competition open to Canadian architecture firms, with a winner selected by an independent jury by July 2027, Carney said. The Rideau Hall Foundation will lead what Carney called “a national fundraising campaign” to help fund part of the restoration.
Carney said there will be parameters in place to cap donations, and that only individuals and philanthropic organizations — not corporations — will be allowed to contribute. The list of donors will also be made public, he said.
Asked why he decided not to fully fund the refurbishment using taxpayer money, Carney said his government has to choose its priorities, such as building affordable housing and strengthening Canada’s economy. He added that Canadians have “a sense of ownership and responsibility” over the home and that there is a public willingness to support shared heritage.
“This is their house,” Carney said. “It is a symbol of the nation.”
Joseph Clarke, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Toronto, described the building’s condition as a “national embarrassment.”
“I think Canadians should have some self-respect in our institutions and symbols,” Clarke said. “This has become a national embarrassment that the building has been neglected.”
Clarke said the residence has witnessed key moments in Canada’s history and that its construction coincided with Canada’s emergence as a nation. He noted the structure has been modified over the years from its original Gothic Revival design, becoming “a living record” of changing architectural styles, domestic Canadian life and public office.
Clarke described the fundraising approach as the “most politically elegant solution” to the problem of the challenging political optics of using public funds to fix the residence, adding that he is relieved the building is “finally getting the attention it deserves.”
The price tag — north of C$100 million — has discouraged previous prime ministers, both Liberal and Conservative, from having taxpayers foot the bill, according to the BBC. The lack of political will to maintain the historic building left it in disrepair, with problems ranging from asbestos-filled walls to a rodent infestation.