HomeStornoway is the official residence of Canada’s leader of the Opposition. The house was one of the first large houses built in Rockcliffe Park in the early 20th century, as Ottawa’s businessmen and politicians began to seek prestigious “country” addresses. Since 1950, when a private trust acquired the house on behalf of the leader of the Opposition, a succession of political leaders — many of them en route to the prime minister’s residence at 24 Sussex Drive — have lived here. Perhaps one of the most dramatic chapters in the house’s century-long history was the four-year residency of the exiled Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. She lived at Stornoway in the 1940s, while the fate of her country was being decided by war.
As official residence of the leader of the Opposition, Stornoway is used like any private house belonging to a public figure. It is the setting for family life, but it is also a place where small political meetings and receptions are held. Certainly, its walls have witnessed the evolution of Canadian politics over the years.