The Ledo Hotel is a three-storey brick building located in downtown Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Originally built as a commercial block in 1910, the building has also served as a hotel as well as contained apartment suites. The project sits on a high traffic site, triangulated between Van Horne, Elgin and Shaughnessy Street. It is located in the arts district of downtown Sudbury, named as such due to the concentration of restaurants, entertainment, local craft stores and tattoo parlors as well as the Place des Arts. The original building was destroyed by a fire in 1952 and a new building built on the same footprint as the Ledo seen today. The building has become increasingly unsafe until being deemed too dangerous for human occupation by the Sudbury Fire Marshal in October 2020, and now exists as a vacant structure. There have been multiple proposals to reuse the building for further development in recent years.
History
The original 2-storey, flat-iron building was constructed in 1910 by P. Manolakos, a Greek resident in the Sudbury community. As a result of large-scale mining in the 1900s, Sudbury saw an increase of people coming through town on the railways. The building was erected across from the old CPR train station, now the Sudbury station, housing an Ice Cream and Confectionery store as well as a restaurant for locals as well as travelers. The second storey held residential units for the business owners.
Project development
The building was expanded in 1914, allowing for more businesses on the first storey as well as hotel suites on the second storey. A third storey was also added to allow for greater capacity in the hotel. It was at this time that the building was named the Sudbury Hotel, providing accommodations for travelers. The first storey now housed a lobby for the hotel as well as the other businesses, including the addition of a taxi service. The building was purchased in 1930 by Hascal Moses, a Jewish immigrant from Romania, who also owned the Moses Block in downtown Sudbury, a smaller flat-iron building. Moses sold the building upon his retirement in 1949. A fire destroyed the building in the winter of 1952, at which time the current Ledo Hotel was built, matching the footprint of the former Sudbury Hotel.
Current building
The current Ledo building functioned as a hotel for over 50 years, accommodating guests and tourist through the end of the 1900s. The Ledo, as well as the adjacent sites (Ledo Block), was then purchased in 2007 by George Soule, a Sudbury landlord, who operated the Ledo Hotel as a rooming house that was rented out on a monthly basis. The Ledo currently has 27 rooms across the second and third storeys, while the first acts as rentable storage for local businesses.
Current condition
The landlord has reported many issues with the building, including aging of the building as well as people breaking in for a free place to stay. Damages include water leakage from the roof as well as broken windows and pried open doors on the ground floor. Due to a low amount of paying tenants, Soule has struggled to maintain the building, which has left the building in disrepair. On October 25, 2020, a fire was reported in one of the units. While no one was injured, thirteen residents were displaced to temporary locations. The Sudbury Fire Department deemed the building an “immediate threat to life” due to leakage and electrical concerns. Sudbury Hydro has disconnected the power to the Ledo, which presently sits vacant. Soule has been willing to sell the Ledo Block since 2011, and it is currently listed for $1.25 million.
Downtown Sudbury rejuvenation
There have been multiple developments in downtown Sudbury in the past decade, including the McEwen School of Architecture as well as the Place Des Arts. These are part of a rejuvenation project in the downtown core of Sudbury, aiming to attract individuals to the once largely active center of Sudbury. The Elgin Street Greenway is a proposed development in which Elgin Street, running alongside the rail lines, is regreened in an effort to create a multi-use pathway that buffers the rail lines from the downtown. The Ledo Block is located along the Greenway, making the site attractive to developers.