Residents of Ottawa’s high-end Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood are expected to decide today whether they allow the demolition of a Frank Lloyd Wright-style building that would be replaced with an Arabic-style mansion for the Iraqi ambassador. According to the Globe and Mail, Some neighbours oppose demolishing the 1979 bungalow, believed to have been designed by Polish-born architect Fred Lebensold, famous for building Ottawa’s National Arts Centre (NAC).
Residents of Ottawa’s high-end Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood are expected to decide today whether they allow the demolition of a Frank Lloyd Wright-style building that would be replaced with an Arabic-style mansion for the Iraqi ambassador. According to the Globe and Mail, Some neighbours oppose demolishing the 1979 bungalow, believed to have been designed by Polish-born architect Fred Lebensold, famous for building Ottawa’s National Arts Centre (NAC).
The building in Rockcliffe is falling apart, left to its own devices since Canada and Iraq broke diplomatic ties in 1991. Nobody has stayed there since. The new residence would be a three-story, bright building featuring ornate railings of Arabic design and several balconies—pretty much exactly the opposite of the dark, one-story bungalow it intends to replace. See the Globe for pictures of the proposed mansion.