NATCHEZ — The Historic Prentiss Club building suffered significant damage in a Sunday morning fire that sent smoke throughout downtown Natchez and brought residents out to watch firefighters battle the blaze.
Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said he got a call at 7:15 a.m. saying the building was on fire, and he arrived on the scene at 7:30 a.m. as firefighters were battling the blaze.
“It is a sad day,” Grennell said, standing beside the building at Pearl and Jefferson streets as firefighters fought the fire Sunday morning. “I got here and the building was still standing. I heard a firefighter say, ‘It is in the attic!’”
Flames were visible rising from the northeast corner of the building at 211 N. Pearl St. that was recently purchased by Shreveport residents Fred and Melinda Kent, who planned to transform the building into a museum.
Construction crews had been working on the interior of the building over the past several weeks.
Melinda Kent who was out of town on Sunday morning called Grennell on his cell phone as he was watching firefighters battle the blaze. She said renovation work had been nearing completion.
“It was due to open in a week,” Melinda said. “I can’t believe this. We were finished. We were just painting some chairs.”
Mimi Miller, Natchez Historic Foundation executive director emeritus, was on the scene Sunday morning as well.
“The roof structure is gone,” Miller said as firefighters were working to bring the fire under control. “On the positive side, the curtains are still on the windows on the lower floor and the windows are not blown out on the second floor. So, I have some hope it could be preserved.”
Firefighters had the fire under control by 9 a.m. but the tile roof was completely gone from the building that was built between 1904 and 1905 to serve as the home for the Prentiss Club, a private men’s club founded in 1903.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic places in 1979.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History describes the building as:
“ . . . a large L-shaped structure on the southeast corner of the intersection of Pearl and Jefferson streets in downtown Natchez, Mississippi. Its two principal elevations, which face west and north, are designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style, with arched fenestration, loggias, sculptured decoration, bracketed eaves, and a low hipped roof covered with red tiles. The secondary south and east elevations (not intended for public view) are largely unornament.”
Grennell said when he was growing up the building housed a nightclub known as The Cellar.
“It was a nightclub,” Grennell said, “a place to hangout, have cocktails and socialize. These are the types of things that occur in your city. I hope the Kents aren’t discouraged.”
See video of the fire here https://goo.gl/VtjYJA
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