Rideau Hall

Rideau Hall (officially Government House) is the official residence of the governor general of Canada, the representative of the monarch of Canada. Located in Ottawa, the capital of the country, on a 36-hectare (88-acre) estate at 1 Sussex Drive, the main building consists of approximately 175 rooms across 9,500 square metres (102,000 sq ft), and 27 outbuildings around the grounds. Rideau Hall's site lies just outside the centre of Ottawa. It is one of two official vice-regal residences maintained by the federal Crown, the other being the Citadelle of Quebec. It is also used as the official residence of the monarch of Canada, when he is in Canada.

Most of Rideau Hall is used for state affairs, only 500 square metres (5,400 sq ft) of its area being dedicated to private living quarters, while additional areas serve as the offices of the Canadian Heraldic Authority and the principal workplace of the governor general and their staff; either the term Rideau Hall, as a metonym, or the formal idiom Government House is employed to refer to this bureaucratic branch. Officially received at the palace are foreign heads of state, both incoming and outgoing ambassadors and high commissioners to Canada, and Canadian Crown ministers for audiences with either the viceroy or the sovereign, should the latter be in residence. Rideau Hall is likewise the location of many Canadian award presentations and investitures, where prime ministers and other members of the federal Cabinet are sworn in, and where federal writs of election are "dropped", among other ceremonial and constitutional functions.

Rideau Hall and the surrounding grounds were designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1977. The house is open to the public for guided tours throughout the year; approximately 200,000 visitors tour Rideau Hall annually. Since 1934, the Federal District Commission (now the National Capital Commission) has managed the grounds.