EVEN MORE FIRES, EVEN MORE LOSSES

It is with "heavy heart" that we must, once again, and so very soon after the previous post, report even more loss to historic Cleveland, Ohio, buildings due to fire.  In the early morning hours of September 23, 2015, fires erupted in five different locations across the city.  One totally destroyed three adjacent buildings in Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.  The most significant of the three was the structure built for John Cain in 1893.  Its exterior had been restored in recent years, and it had even been given a period-appropriate paint job.  [Note:  The owner at that time put an incorrect year of construction, plus his own name, onto the roof-line pediment.]

The two adjacent structures, both still in desperate need of restoration, were equally historic.  The middle building had been built in 1893 for the allotment-owner, Henry Grumbacher, while the one at the other end had also been built in 1893 (with a one-floor addition the following year), for William J. Krause.

One of the other fires severely damaged a house only a block and a half from Euclid Avenue, in Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood.

1997 photo

This house had been built in 1887 for 'speculative' purposes by Rollin White, which was then promptly purchased and occupied by Charles W. Foote.

All five fires occurred within hours of each other and spaced enough apart to have made it feasible for them to have been set by the same person[s], if it were to be determined that arson caused them.  To our knowledge, no fire department investigation reports have been released.