Clean-up finally a go on St. Catharines hotel’s pile of rubble

St Catharines | Niagara | Community | Fire |

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Published April 4, 2022 at 10:42 am

St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik, far right, meets with fire officials at the site of the Welland House Hotel fire last July. That fenced-in 10-foot pile of rumble, sitting like that since then, will finally start getting cleaned up this week.

For almost eight month, the remains of the Welland House Hotel has been a fenced-in eyesore in downtown St. Catharines.

A pile of rubble – 10-12 feet high at its apex – has been sitting at the Ontario-King Street site since firefighters were finally able to contain the July 12, 2021 blaze after three days.

The Ontario Fire Marshall, St. Catharines Fire Department and Niagara Police have all long since closed the book on investigating the fire that completely gutted the five-storey 165 year old historic building.

The official cause will remain unknown. All they were able to determine was it started on the third floor.

However, the clean-up of the site, owned by a numbered company in the Vaughan area, will be somewhat slowed by the fact it’s a historic heritage building.

That means demolition company Starnino will have to sift through the rubble looking for any items of historical relevance.

The building was vacant at the time of the blaze and no injuries were sustained by either nearby residents or firefighters.


The July 12, 2021 blaze that gutted the Welland House hotel in St. Catharines.

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