Community meetings planned for huge Rodman Hall art collection

Group moving towards new public gallery after hall’s closure in 2020

A series of community meetings next month will help decide the fate of Rodman Hall’s 1,000-piece art collection.

The massive collection is in the hands of a registered charity called the Rodman Art Institute of Niagara after the historic St. Catharines gallery closed in 2020.

Earlier this year, it was revealed the 19th-century building on St. Paul Crescent would be converted to a 13-room boutique hotel.

The community meetings will be held with the aid of international planning firm Lord Cultural Resources.

The meetings are scheduled for:

■ Sept. 13 via Zoom at 6:30 p.m.

■ Sept. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at a location to be announced.

■ Sept. 17 at 11 a.m. at Salem Chapel BME Church, 92 Geneva St., St. Catharines.

The Rodman Art Institute was created with the purpose of protecting and supporting the gallery’s collection, with a goal of creating a new public art gallery.

Opened in 1960 as an art centre, Rodman Hall struggled financially in the ’90s before it was purchased by Brock University in 2003 for $2 — with a commitment to continue running it as an art gallery for 20 years.

Brock ended its ownership in 2015, having opened its Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines.

The 2.88-hectare property was sold to developer Nino Donatelli in October 2020. Donatelli has previously restored the 19th-century Lybster Mill in Merritton, now called Stone Mill Inn. He also rehabilitated a former rubber plant on Glendale Avenue into a Keg restaurant.

Rodman Hall and its grounds are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

No major alterations or additions are planned for the Rodman Hall building.