Fire ravages historic Skaneateles building
BUT
Doug's Fish Fry Goes Unharmed
The former three-story Powell House hotel at 6 Jordan St., once
dubbed the "Skaneateles sky scraper," is a total loss.
Built in 1884, the two-story building at 6 Jordan St. housed The
Country Cabin gift shop and DealTek Ltd., a consulting firm. There
were two apartments on the second floor - one occupied by Janice
McAnaney and her three children, the other a small efficiency rented
by DealTek for storage. No one was injured.
Jeff Kulikowsky, Syracuse NewsChannel 9 anchor, reports
from the scene.
The fire started shortly after 11 a.m. in the rear of this
building owned by Jordan Street Holding LLC, of Katonah. The fire was
caused by a contractor who was using a blowtorch to thaw a drain
pipe.
"It was a tough fire to put out," Skaneateles Fire Chief Dave
Card said, "because the building has been remodeled and has a fairly
large crawl space that we couldn't get into and the roof was
metal.
"With fire in the walls, the only way we could fight the fire was
to drown it from above."
Ladder trucks from Skaneateles, Marcellus, Jordan and Auburn were
employed to fight the fire from above.
The building had quite a history. J.R. McKeever purchased it in
the 1930s and, sometime between then and the 1950s, opened a bar and
lopped off the top two floors. The building changed hands again and
became the Townhouse tavern. Joan and I last visited the Townhouse
with Bob and Pat Hunter after meeting with Mo Udall in the Hotel Syracuse back in the 1976.
One concern during the fire was Doug's Fish Fry, which shares a
common wall with The Country Cabin. The storefront housing Doug's was
once the telephone exchange and has brick walls, providing a fire
wall. "There was very minor damage to Doug's," Card said. "We had
firefighters inside monitoring, with a fan running to minimize smoke
damage. "Yeah, there's minor water damage to the ceiling, but I
wouldn't be surprised if Doug's is open (tomorrow)."
Mark Edwards, owner of Doug's Fish Fry, had just opened for
business when the workers at the Chamber of Commerce called to tell
him the building next to his was on fire. "We just left," he
said.
When the Auburn Fire Department arrived, the building had already
partly collapsed, said Fire Chief Michael Quill. Auburn's truck was
stationed at the front of the building for defensive action, wetting
down the building.
"The departments who were here before us prevented the extension
of the fire," he said.
Thermal imaging cameras were used on neighboring business Doug's
Fish Fry to search for any hot spots where the fire might
spread.
Ultimately, the only damage at Doug's was some water in the
basement.
"It looked fine inside," Quill said.
Notes from news story by Dick Clarke and Sara Errington The
Post-Standard January 22, 2004 and a news account by Mary Bulkot and
Shelly Oddo for The Citizen Thursday, January 22, 2004.
Photos by Doug Cameron
[email protected]
