The Loeb House is the former residence of Bertrand Loeb and family, constructed in 1964 located in Ottawa’s Rockcliffe Park neighbourhood, a heritage conservation district.  While the house fits into the surrounding context it is not listed as a Category A building within the district.

The house is a large single storey bungalow with a low slung roof situated well back from the street as is common for the large residential properties found elsewhere in the neighbourhood.  Material finishes include painted wood, large fieldstone and the use of various window types, primarily with a horizontal emphasis.  Due to the large and heavy fence that surrounds the property it is not possible to fully appreciate the design of the house.

In 1979 Blanche Loeb sold the house to the government of Republic of Iraq for use as their ambassador’s residence.  The ambassador remained at the house from 1979 until 1991, when diplomatic relations were suspended.  When the house became an ambassador’s residence in 1979 the concrete and painted steel fence was added, cutting the property off from its surrounding context.  While there are a number of other houses used for diplomatic purposes the level and severity of the fence exceeds others and the poor property maintenance only exacerbates the oppressive nature of the property’s edge.  When relations were reinstated in 2004 the house had been left for 13 years untended and developed issues that are common to properties that are left for this period of time.

Endangered since 2012 when the demolition application was rejected, the house’s future remains unresolved.  Its owner no longer uses the home for the purpose it was purchased for and has shifted plans for a new ambassador’s residence to nearby Birch Street in Manor Park.  As with any property left to the forces of nature, the house will likely require costly rehabilitation and the longer it sits fallow the more likely that a solution retaining the house will not be found.