Thursday, February 22, 2007

up in smoke

Today a building in our neighborhood ignited, just across the street from the Plymouth. It must have happened right around 1 pm, as we were leaving an orchestra rehearsal. Some New World fellows saw the fire and called 911, but I didn't even notice until 2:30. I was on my way to Yo-Yo Ma's master class (along with some other New World musicians seen crossing the street in the photo). There were helicopters hovering above and dozens of emergency vehicles, police, fire, and Red Cross. The block is still barricaded by police cruisers, and I haven't really gotten a good view of the wreckage yet.

2 comments:

RG said...

Matt,

Is this the crack house... er... vacant building right on the corner of 21st and Park? The yellowish one? I saw the address was 2050 Park but Google Maps tells me that's in the middle of the street.

If it was, that may the best thing that could've happened to get that property developed. All of those buildings are in a historical preservation zone, and come with all sorts of rules about what you can and cannot do with the property.

Most developers would want to start from scratch, and this might actually get some actual development started on that block. In terms of safety and security, the best thing that could happen to that neighborhood right around the Plymouth is some new construction.

With all those vacant, abandoned buildings, I'm kind of surprised something like this didn't happen sooner.

Matt Heller said...

It's not that particular crack house, which in better days was the "Adams Hotel". But it does seem to be another similarly vacant building further down the block. The whole street is still blocked off as they clean up the mess, but I'll let you know more when I find out!

It's true, these old buildings have been a blight on the neighborhood. Hopefully we'll see better things rise from the ashes.