Posted January 12, 201015 yr In my opinion, one of the best building facades remaining in downtown Bluffton, although there are a couple of other good ones in the same block. I believe the block west of Johnson Street on the south side of Market Street has the best concentration of late-nineteenth-century facades in Bluffton. According to a resident of one of five apartments in the building, a curtain came into contact with a space heater about 11:30 Sunday morning. The fire department appeared to have the fire nearly under control, when it broke through into the attic and quickly involved the whole building. Seven area fire departments assisted, and the fight continued for several hours. My barber. One of the city workers said the barber shop and the owner's residence above received only relatively minor water damage. I hope that's true; he invested a bundle in turning unused space into a beautifully designed and executed home. New Image style salon was a brand-new business. Habitat for Humanity has lost its home. The building was insured. It's not known yet if the shell is structurally stable, or if it can be rebuilt. Considering the amount of commercial space and potential similar loft/apartment properties downtown that go undeveloped for lack of demand, I don't hold out high hopes.
January 12, 201015 yr Ugh! All these damn fires everywhere! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
January 13, 201015 yr Sad: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/wane-bluffton-Burned-historic-building-to-be-leveled
January 13, 201015 yr I'm so glad I have fire-sprinklers and fire-code drywall in my old building. You never know how careless tenants will be with their cooking, smoking and candles.
January 14, 201015 yr Sad: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/wane-bluffton-Burned-historic-building-to-be-leveled Another case of premature whatchamacallit by a TV reporter. That newcast was from January 11, and the Bluffton News-Banner on the 12th said that demolition may be necessary, but the owner and engineers will be inspecting it this week. The paper's web site today said that the mayor is pushing for rebuilding. Mayor Ted Ellis is a significant factor in making things happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Official cause of the fire was clothing that fell off a bed and became lodged between the bed and a built-in electric baseboard heater. Electric baseboard heat is the cheapest way for a landlord to retrofit an old building so that tenants pay for their own heat, but it's hazardous just because low-rent tenants often don't have the common sense or experience to know how to take care of things. A bed never should have been that close to a heater, and people should know better than to carelessly let flammable items come into contact with heaters. I'm so glad I have fire-sprinklers and fire-code drywall in my old building. You never know how careless tenants will be with their cooking, smoking and candles. Hazards created by other tenants are the main reason I'll be very hesitant to move into a complex when maintaining a house becomes too much of a burden. My last apartment (1972) was in an old house, on the ground floor. One night I awoke to a house full of smoke and it scared hell out of me. I pounded on the door of the upstairs apartment to wake the drag queen who lived there, and found out that he had put a pie in the oven to take to his family's Thanksgiving dinner the next day, and had gotten stoned and fallen asleep. Could have been worse, but that was bad enough.
January 17, 201015 yr A gorgeous building, even after the fire. They need a mandatory IQ test for anyone wishing to reside in a historic building in Bluffton. A space heater next to a curtain? What a moron.
January 19, 201015 yr Sad: http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/wane-bluffton-Burned-historic-building-to-be-leveled Another case of premature whatchamacallit by a TV reporter. That newcast was from January 11, and the Bluffton News-Banner on the 12th said that demolition may be necessary, but the owner and engineers will be inspecting it this week. The paper's web site today said that the mayor is pushing for rebuilding. Mayor Ted Ellis is a significant factor in making things happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Official cause of the fire was clothing that fell off a bed and became lodged between the bed and a built-in electric baseboard heater. Electric baseboard heat is the cheapest way for a landlord to retrofit an old building so that tenants pay for their own heat, but it's hazardous just because low-rent tenants often don't have the common sense or experience to know how to take care of things. A bed never should have been that close to a heater, and people should know better than to carelessly let flammable items come into contact with heaters. I'm so glad I have fire-sprinklers and fire-code drywall in my old building. You never know how careless tenants will be with their cooking, smoking and candles. Hazards created by other tenants are the main reason I'll be very hesitant to move into a complex when maintaining a house becomes too much of a burden. My last apartment (1972) was in an old house, on the ground floor. One night I awoke to a house full of smoke and it scared hell out of me. I pounded on the door of the upstairs apartment to wake the drag queen who lived there, and found out that he had put a pie in the oven to take to his family's Thanksgiving dinner the next day, and had gotten stoned and fallen asleep. Could have been worse, but that was bad enough. I don't know, as a landlord I don't think I'd ever install electric baseboard heaters. It seems like such a risk, and I'd prefer to fool proof the place. For the fact that this guy loves to renovate old buildings, he's not afraid to go cheap on them either it sounds like.
January 19, 201015 yr I don't know, as a landlord I don't think I'd ever install electric baseboard heaters. It seems like such a risk, and I'd prefer to fool proof the place. For the fact that this guy loves to renovate old buildings, he's not afraid to go cheap on them either it sounds like. Exactly. He's actually taking advantage of the decline of downtown to pick up under-utilized properties at distressed prices. His "restorations" are largely cosmetic, and he rents to people who are there because they can't come up with the money to buy a beat-up trailer, as I mentioned before, in Mobile Manor or Kozy Kourt (those are actual local trailer park names). My barber, in the building next door, has invested a lot in his residence. He has complained about the tenants in the now-burned-out building, who sat on the back balcony drinking and loudly talking trash and arguing. The Stag Bar, across the street, shows up frequently in police reports in the newspaper, along with arrests for public drunkenness, fights, and domestic violence that started with an evening there. Bluffton still has some beautiful downtown buildings, and it used to be a tidy, proper farm-country town. The decline started years ago with the arrival of K-Mart on the North and a Supermarket-anchored strip center on the South. The arrival of Wal-Mart and Lowe's a few years ago not only polished off the remaining downtown retail, but killed off K-Mart and the strip center. All that remains of the strip center is the supermarket, where business has dwindled. K-Mart had a clearance and closed their doors as soon as the impending construction of Wal-Mart was announced.
February 4, 201015 yr Latest updates; the local paper requires a paid subscription in order to access full text on line, so I'm posting scans of the articles from my print edition. I think the fire department issued its order just to protect the city from liability in case a trespasser gets hurt on the property. The city has been behind the property owner in all his work to this date, and I don't doubt that so long as he doesn't dally and demonstrates good faith, they'll back him in his efforts to rebuild. "Cautious optimism" describes my feeling at present.
March 31, 201015 yr Seems encouraging: http://www.historiclandmarks.org/RegionalLandmarks/RegionalOffices/Pages/NorthCentralFieldOffice.aspx
March 31, 201015 yr Not everyone has a solid grasp on the distinction between "restore" and "repair" or even "patch up." I'm disappointed by the treatment of the parapet and windows. On the upside, the structure survives and formerly grandfathered structural elements now must be brought into compliance with current codes. It's better than a parking lot, and if Bluffton's economy improves enough to justify investment in downtown quality residential space, the facade has been preserved well enough to make it fully restorable. March 10: Pre-fire (May, 2005):
March 31, 201015 yr whew -- thank goodness they restored it instead of tearing it down. oh wait this isnt neo.
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