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A century-old house just off Island Park Drive is causing some tension between the City of Ottawa and the Ethiopian Embassy.
The house at 575 Island Park Cres. was built in 1927 and was among the original homes on Island Park Drive before it was partly rerouted decades later. The government of Ethiopia bought it in 1993 to house its ambassador.
City staff had been in talks with the Ethiopian Embassy since 2024 about ways to restore the house and to discourage demolition. Despite that, the embassy filed an application in February to tear it down, which led the city to quickly set in motion steps to formally protect the property.
Prolonged vacancy and a lack of maintenance were listed among the reasons in the Ethiopian government’s demolition application. The application also stated the lack of maintenance had compromised the building’s habitability and safety.
For years, the Island Park Community Association has been fighting to have the area designated as a heritage conservation district. It argues the homes were specially built to suit a scenic boulevard as the nation’s capital was developing in the 1920s under the precursor to the National Capital Commission.
“These homes along Island Park Drive, they tell the story of people who felt it was such an important part of the Ottawa Improvement Commission’s mission that they chose these lots to build on,” said Jennifer Gillespie, who chairs the association’s heritage committee.
“This [house] is front and centre … so it’s a massively important statement home for our heritage conservation district application.
A race to preserve
City council formally decided to seek heritage protection for the house on June 10.
CBC News asked the embassy to explain why it was seeking demolition and what it would do about a possible heritage designation, but it did not provide a response.
Ambassador Tewodros Girma Abebe did speak at the city’s built heritage committee on June 9, however.
He said the embassy had worked with city heritage planners for 18 months, but fixing it didn’t make sense financially.
“Unfortunately, since [we’ve owned] the property, we haven’t made a significant investment on this property so that it has deteriorated the condition of the status of the building,” he said.
Abebe added the embassy aims to construct a replacement building closely reflecting the appearance, scale and architectural character of the original.
“One must ask whether the process would truly preserve a heritage building, or merely retain a fragment of structure whose original integrity has already been lost,” the ambassador said.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper, who represents the area, said the notice of intent to add the home to the heritage register protects it from immediate demolition. That said, the Ethiopian Embassy can file an objection with the city, and Leiper’s office says the embassy has done so.
A change in heritage requirements
The Island Park Community Association’s push to designate the area as a heritage conservation district came after the Ontario government started to changes the rules for registering heritage properties.
The home owned by the Ethiopian government was listed on the City of Ottawa’s heritage register in 2019, but was removed again in 2024.
Jennifer Gillespie chairs the Island Park Community Association’s heritage committee. She says the home at 575 Island Park Cres. is a key part of the history of the neighbourhood. (Liam Baker/CBC)
That’s because the Ontario government’s Bill 23, passed in 2022, forced cities to decide which properties they intended to designate for enhanced protection under the Ontario Heritage Act.
“A lot of properties right across the city were removed in big swaths by Ottawa city council essentially to make sure that under the new provincial rules we would maintain the ability to protect those in future,” Leiper said.
The Island Park Community Association first asked city staff to consider looking at Island Park Drive as a heritage conservation district in 2023, and city council asked staff to do a formal study in July 2025.
Preservation without restoration?
The demolition application, which is still pending, referred to a plan to build a new residence for the Ethiopian ambassador, but didn’t include specific plans or drawings.
Heritage advocates who watch local files say a lack of plans tends to diminish a demolition application’s chances of success.
“The city opposes demolition where there is no plan to put up a new building,” said David Jeanes, a board member of Heritage Ottawa. “So generally, the city would look more favourably on any proposal to demolish this house if there was a plan.”
A sign indicating the Government of Ethiopia’s intention to demolish the structure at 575 Island Park Cres. The application to demolish the property is currently pending. (Liam Baker/CBC)
Leiper recently toured the house with Ethiopian officials and admits it’s in rough shape.
He says while the heritage designation does not necessarily prohibit demolition, it does provide the city leverage to ensure some heritage attributes of the original building are preserved in a new one.
The city’s heritage designation of 575 Island Park Cres. would only cover the building’s exterior, excluding the house’s interior and original garage.
Even with a heritage designation, Leiper says the embassy wouldn’t be compelled to restore the house.
“There is a real gap between the powers that cities have to require buildings to be fully preserved and protected,” he said.