Trudeau family to move into Rideau Cottage rather than 24 Sussex

Rideau Cottage, on the Rideau Hall grounds Monday, Oct. 26, 2015.

Justin Trudeau and his family will live at Rideau Cottage instead of the prime minister’s official residence at 24 Sussex Drive “until further notice,” according to a notice sent out Monday.

The planned accommodations for the prime minister-designate were called into question late last week after Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, told a radio station the family wouldn’t be living at 24 Sussex.

Rideau Cottage is a two-storey home is located on the grounds of Rideau Hall at 1 Sussex Drive -- just across the street from the prime minister’s official residence.

The “cottage” is a two-storey Georgian Revival brick home set on 32 hectares of land. It was completed the same year as Confederation and has served as the residence of the secretary to the governor general.

Stephen Wallace, the current secretary to Gov. Gen. David Johnston, has already moved out.

Rideau Hall spokesperson Annabelle Cloutier said this will be the first time a prime minister has lived there.

"It's a big estate, so there is enough space for (Trudeau) to be living here and have his own private space with his family," she said.

The cottage is located in an area not normally open to the public, and the public portion of Rideau Hall will remain open, according to Cloutier.

The prime minister’s official residence has been in a state of disrepair for years. On Sunday, former prime minister Jean Chretien told CTV’s Question Period that the 34-room residence was embarrassing.

Chretien recounted several incidents in which the home showed its age, including one in which he overloaded the residence’s electrical system after plugging in a space heater.

He also remembered a hot July afternoon when he was forced to entertain then-U.S. Vice-President Al Gore in the home’s sweltering, non-air-conditioned living room.

In 2008, the National Capital Commission estimated repairs would cost about $10 million and would require full access for a minimum of 12 to 15 months.

Former prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin have also expressed concerns about 24 Sussex, and the prime-minister-designate himself said in 2012 that his childhood home was “slowly crumbling.”

Catherine Clark, daughter of former prime minister Joe Clark, recently made a documentary on 24 Sussex.

"There is a very clear need for either full updating and renovation, or rebuilding of a residence at 24 Sussex,” Clark said. “It is so well documented at this point that it is a matter of making the right decision at the right time."

Clark said she recalls her mother telling a story about an electrical problem in her father's den more than 30 years ago.

"When they turned on a light on one side of the room, it blew the light out on the other side of the room," Clark said. "Those are the kinds of things that happened in 1979, so you can imagine what kind of repairs are needed at this stage."

With files from The Canadian Press