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Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Givens Row Suffers Fire; Another Blairmont Blaze

Givens Row, the group of three limestone-faced, three-story row houses on the north side of Delmar just west of T.E. Huntley, suffered a small fire yesterday. The fire started at the eastern building in the group, 2903 Delmar Boulevard, which has been owned by Noble Development Company since September 13, 2006. The fire spread to the middle building, but was confined to the upper floor or each building. The cornices of the eastern two buildings were damaged. The western building, which is in use as apartments, suffered no damage at all.

The Italianate-style Givens Row was built in 1886 by businessman Jay Givens, who would later make a substantial donation to Washington University.

Noble Development Company is named for Harvey Noble, the real estate agent who is its registered agent. However, the company has deep ties to the Blairmont land scheme. Readers will recall that a tragic fire struck the Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings, owned by Blairmont Associates LC, last month.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DONT BOARD UP BUILDINGS OWN. BUILDINGS YOU NEVER VISIT IN NEIGHBORHOODS YOU DONT RESPECT. SOMETHING STINKS.

Doug Duckworth said...

I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, but are these Blairmont buildings being destroyed by arson?

Are they insured and are their police/fire department reports? If so, have you seen them?

Maybe they are buying property, lighting them a blaze, getting insurance money, and then selling them to future developers?

Simply a wild and probably untrue theory which has no evidence but it could be probable.