Lord Jim of Dilling - Diplomat Magazine

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DELIGHTS|residencesThe home that Keefer builtAllan Keefer was the architect for many diplomatic residences including those of the Austrian, Spanish,Argentinean, Japanese, Indonesian and Egyptian ambassadorsJennifer CampbellDyanne WilsonThe home of Swedish Ambassador Ingrid Iremark, and her husband, Thomas Thornquist, is an elegant Rockcliffe manor with a dynamite view of theOttawa River.The stately brick home with a commandingview of the Ottawa Rivermay not look it from the outside, butinside it’s a showcase for Swedish furnishingsand art.“This is not our home, it is Sweden’shome,” says Ingrid Iremark, ambassadorof Sweden, who lives at 700 Manor Ave.with her husband, Thomas Thornquist.Early in her tenure in Ottawa, two designersfrom the foreign ministry visitedthe residence for a couple of days and cameup with ideas for new furnishings and art.“They made some suggestions and wehad some say,” Ms. Iremark said. “I don’tlove everything here but I think it functionswell. We have light furniture andit’s easy to take away when we have largefunctions, which we do often.”The same week Diplomat visited, they34had hosted a piano recital and fundraiserand that meant making room for a grandpiano. The home is well-suited for biggroups as its usual furnishings are arrangedin small sitting areas, leaving lotsof open space.The large receiving room in the middleof the home has a fireplace to the left andtwo sitting areas. There’s a cozy diningroom for six or eight facing the front of thehome, and a large dining room along theback, with huge picture windows overlookingthe river.For sit-down dinners, the large diningroom can accommodate 22 guests andfeatures a hutch that dates back to the 18thcentury. It’s been restored and paintedred, which would have been its originalcolour. While it emphatically declares itsantiquity, there are also modern accents inthis bright room, including a mushroomshapedpale blue curiosity that is kneehighfrom the floor.“I think residences should have thiskind of thing,” Ms. Iremark said of thepiece which was recently created bySwedish artist Anders Ruhwald and haswhat looks like a sink drain in the top.“People sometimes wonder if you shouldput a candle (in the drain).”To the left of the main receiving room,there’s another, smaller sitting room, withanother big window. There’s also a prettysun room with tiled floors, and a suitablydark-walled study. The latter was an additionto the original 1913 home, built forThomas Coltrin Keefer Jr., grandson ofengineer T.C. Keefer, who had originallysubdivided Rockcliffe Park Village in 1864.Keefer Jr.’s architect was his brother, Allan,SPRING 09 | APR–JUN
esidences|DELIGHTSCOMMITTED TO QUALITYINSPIRED BY DESIGNall photos Dyanne WilsonClockwise from top left: Ms. Iremark’s formal dinnerware; one of many sitting areas; the expansive diningroom which features an 18th century hutch.who chose a Queen Anne Revival style forthe home.Thomas Keefer wasn’t there long. Aftersome financial difficulty, he sold thehouse in 1919 to James Williams Woods,for $30,000. Woods then turned around ayear later and sold it for $35,000 to GilbertFauquier. It was he who built an adjoining“cottage,” now used as a home for theembassy’s second secretary, Birgitta Ewing.The Swedish government bought theproperties in 1944, becoming the secondcountry to buy a residence in Rockcliffe.Today, there are many more official residencesin the neighbourhood and Keeferdesigned a handful of them. Indeed, inthe 1990s the then Spanish ambassadorstarted a club for those who lived inKeefer homes. Members included the ambassadorsof Austria, Egypt, Argentina, Indonesiaand Japan. Stornoway, the officialresidence of the leader of the opposition, isalso a Keefer home.Today, the home, which has had at leasttwo additions, has a handful of fireplacesand 16 rooms, seven of them bedrooms.Two bedrooms are in the private quartersof Ms. Iremark and Mr. Thornquist whilethe other five are for guests.The envoy and her husband are quitehappy in the expansive abode they’vecalled home for the past 3½ years. In winter,they create a track around the property forcross-country skiing and use it almost daily.For staff, they have a full-time Canadianchef, and a housekeeper. They bringin part-time help for large-scale partiesand receptions.Jennifer Campbell is Diplomat's editorPlan a perfect room.Live happily ever after.Custom window coveringsShuttersBlindsFurnitureUpholsterySlipcoversBedcoveringsHardwareDesigner showroom &professional workroom on premises1134 Bank Street(near Sunnyside)613.730.9090www.elitedraperies.cadiplomat and international canada 35
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