ABANDONED 14 YEARS AGO,SYRIAN EMBASSY NOW FALLING INTO DISREPAIR

HERITAGE OTTAWA

An excerpt from August 10, 2026 Ottawa Citizen article, Abandoned 14 Years Ago, Syrian Embassy Now Falling Into Disrepair, by Aedan Helmer.

The caretaker [of the Syrian Embassy at 46 Cartier Street] has recently retired and turned over his keys, leaving few options for the property’s upkeep.

The building has been vacated since May 2012. The embassy, just a block south of City Hall, has been vacant ever since, with its distinctive awning and wrought-iron fence peeking out from a tangle of brushes and vines that now obscure much of the brick façade.

After nearly 14 years of neglect, the grounds surrounding the embassy had collected a significant amount of debris, fallen leaves, branches and brambles, which [neighbour] David Turnbull began to clear away.

Turnbull was eventually acquainted with the property’s appointed caretaker, Issa Khoury, who was left with a handful of keys to the front door and various locks within the 26-room mansion.

Turn us said he was invited inside the building to get a first-hand look at some of the damage… “So now it’s got a big bowling ball-sized hole that animals have created, so animals and the elements are getting in through the attic,” he said. 

Khoury, the caretaker, has recently retired from the position and turned over the keys to a Syrian holding company in New York City, according to Turnbull, leaving him with few options for the property’s upkeep.

A HUGE CHALLENGE

The former Syrian embassy is one of 11 foreign-owned or diplomatic properties that are on the City of Ottawa’s heritage watchlist. 

The city monitors the condition of the heritage-designated properties and performs regular inspections — involving heritage planning staff, building-code services and bylaw officers — to ensure the properties comply with building standards and bylaws.

According to Court Curry, Ottawa’s director of right of way, heritage and urban design, city officials work with diplomatic and foreign-owned properties on matters related to property standards, building safety and heritage conservation. 

…

“Staff continue to assess whether additional legislative or regulatory tools or measures could strengthen the city’s ability to address vacant and at-risk heritage properties and engage with property owners and community members to identify opportunities for improvement,” wrote Curry in an email. 

The city works through established diplomatic protocols with foreign-owned properties, and would work with Global Affairs Canada if a violation persists.

RICH HERITAGE VALUE

Like most of the buildings on the city’s heritage watchlist, the former Syrian embassy has a rich cultural and architectural value that contributes to Ottawa’s living history. 

And, like many of the vacant diplomatic properties on the city’s watchlist, the building has been falling into disrepair following years of neglect.

“All the tools the city has to pursue demolition by neglect of property owners are simply not applicable when it’s a foreign property,” said Linda Hoad of Heritage Ottawa. “It’s their territory. The city cannot to anything, which is why they have to work through Global Affairs, so it’s not going to happen quickly.”

ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE 

The building at 46 Cartier Street was designated a heritage property in 1998 under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act, Hoad said, for its architectural and historical prominence.

Known as the Bate House when it was constructed in 1901, the building was variously the home of a senator, a Supreme Court justice and a convent and stands as an “excellent example of the architecture of the time,” according to Heritage Ottawa.

Hoad highlighted a letter sent by Heritage Ottawa to Global Affairs in 2013, one year after the Syrian diplomats were expelled, when the agency was still known as the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

The letter cautioned that the building “may be falling into disrepair” and requested that the letter be forwarded to those responsible for the ongoing maintenance.

“As a heritage property, it should be maintained in proper condition and not be allowed to fall into neglect,” wrote Leslie Maitland, then Heritage Ottawa president.

In a statement on Aug 6, Global Affairs Canada said foreign states “are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the properties they own in Canada, regardless of whether those properties benefit from immunities.”

“Following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024, Canada resumed diplomatic engagement with the Syrian Transitional Government,” Global Affairs spokesperson Charlottes MacLeod said. “Canada supports the Syrian Transitional Government’s ongoing efforts to achieve a stable political and economic transition.”

Read the full OTTAWA CITIZEN article here.

Photo: Jean Levac/Postmedia