Margo Roston
Margo Roston is Diplomat’s culture editor.
Margo Roston's Latest Posts
A contemporary couple in a charming residence
Josephina de la Caridad Vidal Ferreiro and José Anselmo López Perera have all the comforts of home in their snug residence on Acacia Avenue in Rockcliffe. There is a vast array of fine Cuban rum and a wooden humidor full of Cuban cigars. But this unique diplomatic husband-and-wife team would be at home anywhere they […]
Slovak residence: A modern home full of art
Tucked away on a small cul-de-sac on the eastern side of Rockcliffe Park is the residence of Slovak Ambassador Andrej Droba, his wife, Daniela, and their 11-year-old daughter, Sara. A family-style home in most respects, the house was built in 1984 on a large tract of private land on the eastern side of McKay Lake […]
An elegant Turkish mansion in Rockcliffe
When you live in a Rockcliffe mansion with multiple receiving rooms, three guest rooms, 11 bathrooms, a spacious patio, expansive gardens and an address that is known to be elite, the best way to make it feel like home is to move in with some of your favourite art and pieces of memorabilia. That’s just […]
The castle Birkett built
We’ve all seen and heard of famous castles — Windsor Castle, Prague Castle, Mont Saint Michel, Ludwig’s (Mad Max’s) Castle in Bavaria. Exotic locations, fantastic designs, tourist destinations. And then there is Birkett’s Castle. Whose, you ask? Birkett’s? Where would that be? Try downtown Ottawa. Ask around about Thomas Birkett, a former mayor of Ottawa […]
An artful residence for an artist and an ambassador
lf you wander into the residence of Czech Ambassador Pavel Hrncir in tony Rockcliffe, you might think you are in the wrong place. In an area known for its baronial manor houses, this house has none of the typical stucco and stone exteriors, no stone columns, no wrought-iron balconies and no circular driveway. Inside you […]
Saudi Arabia’s Ottawa jewel on Sussex Drive
Ask Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador Naif Bin Bandir Alsudairy what he likes best about his lavish embassy on Sussex Drive and he’s sure to look across the Ottawa River to the Gatineau Hills and answer that he’s happy to be so close to skiing. At every other posting, he says he’s had to travel far to […]
Portugal’s diplomatic residence off the beaten path
Portuguese Ambassador Jose Moreira da Cunha and his wife, Lurdes, live in what they describe as a modest embassy residence on Island Park Drive, far from some of the baronial manor houses of Rockcliffe where many of their diplomatic friends live. But they say they couldn’t be happier. Not only do they love the location, […]
Colombia’s stunning Rockcliffe renovation project
The pungent aroma of Colombian coffee fills the sunlit rooms of this Rockcliffe home, a comfortable, airy, modern residence that bears little resemblance to its actual age. Inside this seven-bedroom diplomatic residence, it’s hard to imagine that the house was actually built in 1934 with a stucco and stone exterior that fits in perfectly with […]
A residence built with Moroccan charm
If you don’t pay attention, you might just miss the small sign and street number of the Moroccan ambassador’s residence on busy Aylmer Road. It’s not far from the plush fairways of the Royal Ottawa Golf Club, nor from the Champlain Bridge to Ottawa. In fact, it’s just far enough away to stand alone on […]
China’s residence: Sharing a culture with Canada
If you ask Ambassador Luo Zhaohui about his spacious Rockcliffe residence, he’ll tell you with a big smile that it has all the elements of good feng shui, the Chinese philosophical system for harmonizing with the surrounding environment. His house is sort of halfway up a hill, between water — the backyard swimming pool and […]
Recent Comments