History
The house was built by architect Alan Keefer in 1914 for Ottawa grocer Ascanio J. Major and was given the name “Stornoway” by the second occupants, the Perley-Robertsons, after the ancestral home of the Perley family in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. During the Second World War, it served as the temporary home-in-exile of future Queen (then-princess) Juliana of the Netherlands and her family, including the current Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
Stornoway has served its present purpose as the Official Opposition Leader's residence since 1950, when it was purchased by a group of concerned citizens and later transferred to the government.
Although the Bloc Québécois were the official opposition from 1993 to 1997, leader Lucien Bouchard declined to move into the residence as a mark of protest against the federal government, choosing instead to live in nearby Gatineau, Quebec. His successor, Gilles Duceppe, also did not reside in Stornoway.
Following the 1997 election, where the Reform Party displaced the Bloc Québécois to become the largest opposition party, the new official opposition leader, Preston Manning, declined to move in for a different reason: he protested that it was too extravagant and a waste of taxpayer money, even joking that it should be used as a bingo hall to pay off the national debt. Manning asked that he be provided with a more 'modest' residence, but soon moved into Stornoway after his refusal to do so began to be portrayed in the media as a mark of disrespect for his position as Leader of the Opposition.
Renovations from 2002 to 2006 overhauled the living room, kitchen, repair of the chimney, replacement of carpets, refinishing of hardwood floors and painting, among other things.
Jack Layton, who had led the NDP to official opposition status in the 2011 election, moved in a month after the election, but stated that he would continue to live in Toronto when Parliament was out of session. He died a few months later of cancer; it was subsequently revealed that Layton and his wife Olivia Chow actually spent just one night in the house. His interim successor as NDP leader, Nycole Turmel, also did not formally move into the house, although she did host a number of official functions there.
Out of the Leaders of the Opposition, John Reynolds and Bill Graham are the only interim party leaders to have resided at Stornoway. All other residents have been permanent party leaders (ratified at a leadership convention).
Read more about this topic: Stornoway (residence)
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