Whoever ends up purchasing Sudbury’s historic Bell Mansion inherits along with it the property’s heritage designation, which affords it certain protections when it comes to development.
The Bell Mansion has been closed since October 2023 due to repair issues, with its owner, Laurentian University, deciding in October 2024 that it would sell the property, as it was too expensive to repair.
The building’s long-time occupant, the Art Gallery of Sudbury, has been operating out of a temporary space for a year and a half, and recently fully vacated the Bell Mansion as it is prepared for sale.
The current target to list the Bell Mansion property is mid-July, Laurentian University communications confirmed to Sudbury.com this week.
The Kingsmount-Bell Park Community Action Network (CAN), which would like to see the building stay in the public realm, recently put out a petition on the subject.
The group’s chair, Paul Haynes, said the City of Greater Sudbury does have “some teeth” when it comes to the matter due to the property’s heritage designation and zoning.
To find out more specifics on the subject, we reached out to Greater Sudbury senior planner Bailey Chabot.
She said the Bell Mansion was made a designated heritage site through the passing of a municipal bylaw back in 1983, affording it protections under the Ontario Heritage Act.
“The heritage designation stays with the property, it lives with the property … and the ownership doesn't change that,” Chabot said.
Because it received its status more than 40 years ago, the entire Bell Mansion property is considered to be a designated heritage site — in more modern times, protections can be afforded to specific heritage features.
Designated heritage sites are those with demonstrated “cultural or historic significance,” Chabot said, and Greater Sudbury has 10 of them, as well as another seven listed heritage sites, which may have cultural or historic significance.
Under the Ontario Heritage Act, with designated heritage sites, “you are not able to alter the property or demolish the property if that alteration or demolition will have the effect of or will affect the property's heritage attributes,” Chabot said.
If they wish to demolish or alter a designated heritage site, they must apply to the municipality for permission.
A December 2023 engineering report on needed repairs to the Bell Mansion produced for Laurentian University (which have not been done due to cost) referenced the need to protect the building’s heritage value.
It said among the work that is needed is the removal of the west chimney to the roof level, and the cataloguing and storage of the stones so the chimney can be re-built in the future.
“This is to protect the heritage value of the structure,” said the report.
Chabot said designated heritage buildings are not a “you cannot touch it” situation, explaining “we just want to make sure that the heritage attributes are being maintained.”
In terms of the building’s zoning, Chabot said it is zoned “I,” or Institutional.
“So it's currently owned by the university, and they have the art gallery there,” she said. “A number of different uses are permitted: a daycare centre, a library or a museum, a private club, a rec and community centre, group homes, a special needs facility, institutional uses in general, those types of things.”
She said if someone wanted to use the Bell Mansion as their personal dwelling, that is allowable with its current zoning under city bylaws.
But if someone purchased the property for a use other than what’s mentioned above, the owner would have to go through a rezoning process, including public consultation and going before city council for their consideration.
“If they wanted to, say, have a bed and breakfast, then they would go through a rezoning process, or if they wanted to convert it into an office space, then yeah, a rezoning would be required at minimum,” Chabot said.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.