5 minute read
Residences: The Kuwaiti ambassador's residence, an Arabic gem
By Patrick Langston
Photos by Ashley Fraser
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The Kuwaiti ambassador's residence was designed in 1998 for the first Kuwaiti head of mission to Canada. The home, designed by Montreal architect Armand Dadoun, overlooks the Ottawa River and boasts many Arabic influences.
It’s all about the panorama. Perched on quiet Acacia Lane in Rockcliffe, the Kuwait ambassador’s residence offers a sweeping view from its second-storey terrace of the sparkling Ottawa River and the Gatineau Hills, with early fall colours beginning to blaze in the distance when we visit. “It’s the most attractive place in the house,” says Ambassador Ahdulhamid Alfailakawi of the terrace. “We use it for barbecues in the summer. We are very lucky this way; it is very relaxing.” In fact, the entire home has an easygoing vibe, thanks in no small part to the design — airy rooms, large windows, a marvellous integration of the inside with the natural world outside — created by Montreal architect Armand Dadoun. He designed the $4-million residence, including the private balcony off the master bedroom, which also overlooks the Ottawa River, for Abdulmohsin Al-Duaij, Kuwait’s first ambassador to Canada. With its strong Arabic influences, the home was finished in 1998. Those Arabic influences include the home’s white exterior with brown marble detailing and small dome and the generous, marbled central hall that greets visitors as soon as they step inside. The hall, crowned by a recessed ceiling and a massive round chandelier, leads through arched doorways to the reception rooms and, out back, that uber-popular terrace. Alfailakawi, who was in the final week of his four-year posting to Ottawa during our visit and has since returned to Kuwait to continue working with his homeland’s foreign ministry, explained that the hall is a descendant of the original Arabic opento-the-elements style of building. While this hall is enclosed because of Ottawa’s harsh winters, in Kuwait and elsewhere “kids would play and you’d sit outside
Ahdulhamid Alfailakawi was Kuwait's ambassador to Canada for several years. He returned to Kuwait in the late autumn and his successor, Reem Mohammad Khaled Zaid Al Khaled, presented her credentials in November.
in this space. It’s prestigious if you have a big hall.” Dead centre in the hall is a large wooden replica of an elegant dhow, or sailing vessel. Its sails furled and anchor dangling, the boat — which seems too pedestrian a word for this burnished, twomasted beauty — has special significance for Alfailakawi, who requested his ministry send the model to Canada. “It’s a traditional Kuwait vessel, and my grandpa was a (ship) captain. It is very personal,” he said. “In Kuwait, it used to be that trade and pearl-diving were two traditional ways of earning a living. They would navigate by the stars. There were many incidents where they just didn’t come back (or) the men were gone for four months at sea. The women were strong and ran the society.” Situated, as it is, at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it’s not surprising that Kuwait has such an abiding relationship with the water. That connection is picked up in a painting in the large sitting room off the hall, where ochre walls, a fireplace and fringed, cream-coloured sofas blend formality and comfort. The painting of two fishermen with their nets spread out at the water’s edge represents a traditional method of fishing, This galloping horse ardorns one of the legs of a coffee table in the main reception room of the residence.
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A painting in the large sitting room off the hall, where ochre walls, a fireplace and fringed, cream-coloured sofas blend formality and comfort, shows Kuwait's connection with the water, situated, as it is, at the tip of the Persian Gulf.
Alfailakawi said. The fishermen would spread their nets at the end of low tide, catching the fish that came toward shore as the tide turned. That, in turn, reminds him of ice fishing in Manitoba early in 2019. “That was one of my dreams in Canada, to go ice fishing. We started from scratch, drilled the holes in the ice. I caught four fish. I think it was minus 42C outside. That was quite an ex- perience.” Near that painting of the fishermen is the main floor’s “smoking room.” Deep red with wall panelling and a large, or- nately framed mirror, it’s a room custommade for intimate conversation and smaller gatherings. Opposite the grand hall is the expan- sive dining room with three chandeliers, deep-green patterned wallpaper, a can- delabra and a couple of small, carved wooden jewelry boxes on a sideboard.
DINNER GUESTS AT THE RESIDENCE TYPICALLY ENJOY A KUWAITI-STYLE BUFFET OF RICE, FISH, MUTTON AND SALAD.
The boxes are part of a traditional gift from a husband to a wife, explains Afailakawi. They are placed inside larger cases and together they contain clothing, jewelry and incense. Dinner guests at the residence, who doubtless also learn about those lovely wooden containers, typically enjoy a Kuwaiti-style buffet of rice, fish, mutton and salad, Alfailakawi said. Although the ambassador was getting ready to leave Canada and he's now back in Kuwait, having already been replaced by Reem Mohammad Khaled Zaid Al Khaled, he hadn’t packed all of his per- sonal possessions when Diplomat visited. Among them: a wooden radio from 1940, an antique Arabic dress sword and an ornately faced Ingraham clock from 1880. “I love antiques,” says the father of five whose wife remained at their home in Kuwait during his posting to Canada. “I spend my weekends touring Ottawa and the borders of Ottawa and other cities [looking for antiques.] “I have a little museum in my home of- fice, where I keep these. We go there after dinner and discuss politics.”
