Rideau Cottage, Official residence in Ottawa, Canada
Rideau Cottage is a two-storey brick residence in Georgian Revival style at 1 Sussex Drive in central Ottawa. The building features a hipped roof with paired chimneys and symmetrically arranged sash windows on both floors.
Frederick Preston Rubidge designed the residence in 1866 as housing for the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada. The property was later converted to an official guesthouse for dignitaries and has served multiple administrative purposes since the 20th century.
The house is nicknamed the "Rideau bungalow" and sits in a wooded spot behind the gardens of Rideau Hall, screened from the public street. Its 1872 second storey and balcony were designed by Thomas Seaton Scott, chief architect of Public Works Canada, giving it a more Victorian look than the original cottage. A 1905 rear annex enlarged the kitchen, and a 1933 two-storey north wing enlarged the dining room.
Rideau Cottage stands at the back of Rideau Hall's 35-hectare wooded grounds, behind the gardens. It can be seen from the service buildings and from Rideau Hall itself, but not from any public street, so there is no sidewalk view of the facade. The interior is not open to the public.
Meals for the prime minister's household are prepared off-site, as the cottage lacks the space, grandeur and security infrastructure expected of an official residence. The building is also screened from public roads by trees at the rear of Rideau Hall's 35-hectare grounds.
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