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Fairfield Loses Another Historic Building 28 June 2004 -- Fire trucks responded to a midnight fire in the central business district of Fairfield and as of 8:00 am the building continues to smolder. The two-storey brick masonry building is located on the south side of the Town Square, to the east of the mid-block service alley. The building appears to date to the 1880's and was probably eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Occupied by Shadow Computing, the building facade had been modified at street level by former owners who installed new brick veneer and leaded glass doors and windows -- a sharp departure from its historic detailing. The upper level street facade retained its original cream-white pressed metal window surrounds with column and entablature motif, crowned by the ornamental eave treatments. The alley and rear side of the building was common brick. The roof collapsed in to the upper floor, which appears to have withstood both the fire and th impact loads imposed by the collapse. The front facade eave treatments have collapsed, as have portions of the upper walls along the alley and rear. Fire fighting hoses continue to flood the smoking building eight hours after the first response. The firewall to the east appears to have contained the fire from spreading to the adjacent building, occupied by Fairfield Real Estate, Inc. Smoke and water damages to that building are possible but unknown at this time. Too soon to know what will happen to the shell, or whether efforts will be made to retain the street facade. where buildings of this type have been lost in other communities, gaps were created in the commercial street front and surrounding businesses experienced significant drop-off in commercial traffic. Let's hope that doesn't happen here. |
Fire Destroys Historic Building |
Update -- 30 June 2004 -- With the aid of fire and public safety personnel, the upper front facade was toppled onto the sidewalk, where it lays, for the moment, face upward and in remarkably good condition. The sidewalls were toppled into the building, which is now filled to the height of the former second floor with brick rubble. Complete demolition of the structure is a foregone conclusion. The cause of the fire has been ruled as arson. |
Prairie Architects, Inc. -- 103 South Third Street -- Fairfield, Iowa 52556 |