Dobell House: A Rockcliffe Park Residence with Provenance

While serving at the Canadian Mission to the United Nations in New York in the 1960s, Jane and Peter Dobell encountered a young architect whose work would one day reshape cultural landmarks across North America. That architect was Hugh Hardy. Known later for his work on Radio City Music Hall and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), among other seminal projects, Hardy was just beginning his architectural career when he accepted the Dobells’ invitation to design their Rockcliffe Park home.

What followed was the creation of one of Rockcliffe Park’s most architecturally significant residences: Dobell House. Completed in 1966, this luminous south-facing home was a strikingly modern composition in its time and remains a masterclass in sculptural residential design. Set discreetly within a wooded urban grove, the house dissolves the boundary between architecture and landscape.

Hardy’s design is an orchestration of light and space. Conceived as a series of articulated pavilions unified by their geometric precision and roofline choreography, the house is crowned by a constellation of faceted skylights – referred to by Hardy as “light grabbers.” These hooded skylights capture the ever-shifting southern light, diffusing it onto north-facing interior walls to create a living canvas for art, atmosphere and daily ritual.

The heart of the home is a soaring great room – its ceiling a sculptural terrain of light and form. Designed to showcase the Dobells’ collection of painting and sculpture, the space draws in natural light with theatrical sensitivity, elevating the everyday to the sublime. Around this core unfolds a thoughtful floor plan: main level living throughout, and an upper-storey office that is tucked discreetly above and whose ceilings soar to over 11’5”.

Constructed of poured-in-place concrete – smooth where it shapes the pavilions, rough-textured in contrast elsewhere – the house is both materially grounded and visually expressive. Copper roofs, wood-clad courtyards, and secluded garden moments reveal the tactility and poise of Hardy’s architectural language.

Beyond its design pedigree, Dobell House carries a cultural legacy. Jane Dobell, a woman of intellect and initiative, was the founder of the Rockcliffe Park Book Fair, now one of Ottawa’s most celebrated literary events. Today, more than 2,000 visitors attend this event annually.

Set on a lush, private lot, the home’s front garden – affectionately described by the Dobells as their “mini forest” – offers a quiet, year-round meditation on nature. Sunlight filters through its canopy in summer, while in winter, ice crystals transform branches into a crystalline sculpture of their own.

Now offered for the first time in 72 years, Dobell House stands ready for its next steward – someone who will embrace its architectural integrity, its history of vision, and the rare, poetic light that still pours in.