Australia House, Diplomatic residence in Wilbrod-Laurier Heritage District, Ottawa, Canada.
Australia House is the official residence of the Australian High Commissioner to Canada, a house built in 1910 by William Davis and believed to have been designed by John W. H. Watts. It stands on a corner lot at 407 Wilbrod Street in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa, near other embassies and official residences. The chancery offices are separate, at Suite 1301 of the Sun Life Financial Centre, 50 O'Connor Street in Downtown Ottawa.
Built in 1910 by William Davis, likely to a design by John W. H. Watts, the house stood vacant for several years after Davis died in 1916. Colonel Cameron Macpherson Edwards, formerly of 24 Sussex Drive, bought it, then left in 1937 and rented it to Germany for consul general Erich Windels, who was expelled when war was declared in September 1939. Australia's delegation acquired the vacant building in 1940 and bought it from the Edwards soon after.
Australia House is a residence, not the chancery: the high commission's offices are at Suite 1301, Sun Life Financial Centre, 50 O'Connor Street downtown. The Wilbrod Street house has hosted visiting Australian prime ministers and, from 1947 to 1953, former prime minister Frank Forde while he served as high commissioner.
Australia House stands on a corner lot at 407 Wilbrod Street in Sandy Hill, near other embassies and official residences. It is a private residence for the high commissioner, so it is not open to the public; the working chancery is at Suite 1301, Sun Life Financial Centre, 50 O'Connor Street in Downtown Ottawa.
The house was rented to Germany in 1937 for consul general Erich Windels, who was friendly with Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, whose home at 24 Sussex Drive was nearby. Windels was expelled from Canada when war was declared in September 1939, and the newly vacant building then drew the Australian delegation, which wanted more spacious quarters.
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