180-year-old hotel damaged in December ice storm reopens by end of month

After its roof collapsed in last year, the historic hotel is expected to open by the end of the month. CTV’s Scott Miller has more.

Jeff and Leigh Graham are just days away from re-opening the historic Albion Hotel after the roof collapsed due to ice build up last December.

“We’ve come a long way. We’ve had a lot of people pull up and help us out. And, she’s a pretty much new building at this point,” said Jeff Graham, owner of the Albion Hotel in Bayfield.

The more than 180-year-old roof at Bayfield’s Albion Hotel came crashing in on it self, during an ice and rain storm on Dec. 8, 2024.

“Everybody was in shock, I think the whole town was in shock,” said Graham.

By the end of December, a temporary roof was installed to try and keep the water out, and by March 2025, the arduous task of rebuilding a 180-year-old hotel that suffered extensive water damage following the roof collapse had begun.

A spring and summer of constant construction has led to a grand re-opening and street party out front of the beloved Albion, planned for Saturday, Sept. 27.

“We’re pretty proud of how it looks inside. And we’re really proud of how the community came together and all the local contractors who came and helped us out. And, yeah, we put her back together,” said Graham.

Graham says they’ve done their best to maintain the historic charm of building that was constructed in the 1840’s, while shoring up a roof and structure that literally buckled under the weight of ice and rain nine months ago.

“We went to engineered trusses from rafters that were built in the 1840s. So, you know, we’re all up to modern technology for the roof. We put on a steel shake roof to kind of match what the cedar shakes looked like. We got all new insulation, new wiring. So, we’ve really put the time and care into this place to get it to last another hundred 180 years,” said Graham.