Much of a historic Little Rock home was enveloped in flames after it was struck by lightning Friday morning, officials said.
The Little Rock Fire Department received a call at about 5 a.m. to the 100-year-old home at 2311 Louisiana St., according to Capt. Doug Coffman, department spokesman. When crews arrived they found about half of the residence was on fire, Coffman said.
Fire officials said they believe lightning sparked the fire, and that no one was injured.
Trey Willis, who is renovating a home next door but is staying several blocks away, said the home had been vacant since the previous owner died roughly a year ago. However, Willis initially thought it was his own house that caught fire.
The renovator woke up that morning to a text message from a friend, saying, “I’m so sorry about what happened to your house.”
The friend soon followed up with another text: “Sorry, it wasn’t yours after all.”
Willis said that while he was “quietly relieved” his home was safe, he was sad to see the extent of the damage to the burned home.
“I cannot imagine that property is going to be saved now,” he said. “I’m probably going to be sitting next to a vacant lot for a very long time.”
The single-story home, part of the Governor’s Mansion Historic District, was deemed historically significant for its location, architecture style, age and level of material integrity, said Patricia Blick, executive director at the Quapaw Quarter Association.
“It was a pretty, attractive little cottage,” Blick said. “When I drove by and saw it I was certain someone would want to purchase it once it was on the market. It’s very unfortunate.”
Willis said the home had an elegant charm.
“From the curb, just looking at it, it was a genuinely handsome house. It would have made somebody a great new home,” he said
On Monday morning, Willis said he could stand on the second story of the house he’s renovating and see through the damage left from the fire and into the home.
The man who used to live there was a professor who hoped to put money from the sale of the home into a scholarship, Willis said. However, he’s no longer sure what’s going to happen to the structure.
“Ultimately I’m just deeply saddened for [the professor] for what he expected to happen to his estate and for this city,” he said. “You can’t replace history.”