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DELIGHTS|residences
The Irish residence: A home and a harp
By Margo Roston
all photos Dyanne Wilson
The residence of Irish Ambassador Raymond Bassett and his wife, Patricia, has undergone an expansion. It’s now 12,000 square feet.
Cars slow down at the busy intersection
in the heart of Rockcliffe and
people stop and stare. The object
of their attention is the newly-renovated
Irish embassy. Once a modest but stately
home, it’s been renovated into a stunning
12,000-square-foot stone and brick
behemoth.
The residence has had quite a journey
to get where it is today. Back in the 1930s,
Ottawa architect H. Gordon Hughes
designed a sophisticated stone “French
Inspiration” home at 291 Park Road for
D. Irving Cameron, a local investment
70
banker. Located on a spacious lot in a
heritage area — specifically on the corner
of Springfield Road — the house has endured
many changes from Hughes’ initial
design. A glass portico on the front and
two wings to give added space for entertaining
were the first changes the Irish
made to the house.
But in the last decade, and at the
height of Ireland’s economic boom, the
government decided to do a total renovation.
They not only wanted to add
much-needed space, but also set about ridding
the old house of asbestos and dated
insulation. At a cost of about $6 million,
the project caused some controversy in
Ireland following media coverage in Ottawa,
perhaps because by the time it was
finished, the Irish economy had tanked.
Ambassador Raymond Bassett and his
wife, Patricia, have been in Canada just
over a year, although Mrs. Bassett spends
most of the year in Dublin with their son
Kevin, 17, who is their youngest and is
still in school there.
“Ireland’s been represented in Ottawa
since 1939,” says the ambassador. “We
think it was a very good investment. We
FALL 2011 | OCT-NOV-DEC