ARTISTS' FLAT BURNED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15124, 15 October 1912, Page 7

ARTISTS' FLAT BURNED.

1 -'-A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE. ■ ■-• . ISpALMERSTON BUILDINGS I ife P DAMAGED IPALMERSTON BUILDINGS AU DAMAGED I 'fe * NARROW ESCAPE. II "■■ A _ . I rescued BY BRIGADE I i ; ;/j" JAW**"- * <£bAT -DAMAGE BY WATER. I;. GEAT . DAMAGE BY LOST, VALUABLE PICTURES LOST. •''"" c broke out in the top floor of the Buildings. Lower Queen-street, ■frSol one o'clock this morning. '. *£? budding, which extends from 1 { iWrcet ToUtUo Queen-street, with a S S w to Customs-street, is divided up I ''X flarge number of leased sections, S A the portion attacked was ocI : ■-••/ fcv a number of well-known § >&? and is known as "Artists' Flat." "ftonWd a large number of valuable ''»«*«. The flames were practically conSo Artists' Flat, which, with thee, gtion of one studio, was completely PfS 'alarm was given at 12.50 a.m., by VB. Spinlcv, of Devonport, from a v." at the corner of Queen-street and , £oms-street. The fir o was then showS«t one of the windows, but it had eviSuy secured a good hold already. A £ column of amok* was rising and iriimz across Queen-street'. SfbrieJo arrived in about three .' : "i c ,.ti« but bv that time the blaze bad 6. £ken through the windows and roof. rne caretaker of the building, Mr. G. ■i: tkteber, lives on the same floor and in ¥ &BS next to tho fiat. He locked op at - 1015 p.m. He and his wife, two children, :- : a ladv friend named Mrs. Fitssimmons Sm all asleep, and be was awakened by S ; \ba crackling of the fire. Ho at once I housed the others, and they were eventui •■- silr rescued by the firs brigade. k I Almost directly the brigade commenced I fo attack upon the fire from Customs-street 'like onlookers were startled to see the carepi taker and his family appear at the win- : : dov.scf their rooms, only a few feet from If -'where the flames were belching out. There pi was for a time some fear that they might - sot escape, but they quickly left the. win--1! dow, and reappeared at a top win- ! da* in Queen-street. The brigade !%» up a ladder, but it was 5 'td long enough to reach the -window. ,v Fortunately, the stairs remained intact, I sad the firemen, having broken in tho f\ 'front door of tho building, ran upstairs ad brought the people down. Mrs. iictcher was suffering considerably from shock.

.-- Good Work of the Brigade. -"The fire was attacked with several lines of hose from Customs-street and Little Queen-street, and other leads were Uiea up the stairs from Queen-street. A large volume of -rater was poured into the flames, and by half-past one the blaze hsd been extinguished. The contents of tfco fat were of the most combustible kind. Tie partitions were all of a flimsy nature, being made of sheets of some incombustible preparation nailed upon scantlings, and not- reaching to the roof. The various rooms were decorated and furi&hed with various light materials, and contained a large number of pictures. Thus all the conditions favoured a fierce conflagration. The big volume of water poured into the burning portion of the tiding, 'however, told its tale, and the firemen were enabled to check what might bare developed into a disastrous fire. Nothing Saved in Flat. The Artists' Flat was almost gutted. The studios destroyed were those of Massrs. Moore-Jones, Armin A. Schmitt, C. Kingsiey-Smith, E. Langmuir, Mark liw H de Tere Percy, and Misses Kit* Turner and Vera Jacobsen. Mr" Moore-Jones .is in England, and before leaving had sold his pictures, valued at, over £500, to Messrs. Woolridge" and Baugban, of Arney Road, Remuera. These pictures were insured, it is understood, for £350 in the Atlas Insurance office. Mr. Schmitt's studio contained a number of valuable pictures, worth several hundred pounds. Miss Kit Turner also suffered a heavy logs. All the studios contained a large number of sketches and studies which cannot be replaced. The total loss, in pictures alone, was considerably over £1000. Other insurances were not available.

Premises Damaged by Water. The premises, in which considerable damage was caused by water, include the following :— First floor: H. Wilding, public ac- j countantj-H. Monro Wilson, civil engineer; j Dr. Ronton, dentist; Dr. Pope, dentist; j J. J. Niven and Company, Limited en- J giaeers; E. G. Pinker, accountant and j auditor: Wilding's Agency. I ..Second-floor: A. L. Alexander and; tympany, shipping and Customs agents; ! & : Irwin Crooks, consulting engineer; A. j B. Morrison, estate ?nd financial agent; j 6. C. Plunkett, surveyor to Lloyd's Re- ! pfiter; Burcher and Co., public; accountants; Society for the Protec- , tion of Women and Children Mid Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; 11. 11. Metcalfe, civil engineer; J. A. Beale, barrister; Australian Federated Seamen' Union. Third floor: F. W. Blakcy and Co., civil engineers; Bayswater Estate Company. Ground floor : The Central Cleaning Company; E. Wilson and Co., carriers; Union S.S. Ccmpany; and Messrs. Rus--6&11 and Somen;, agents P. and 0. Steamship. Company. A Deluge of Wa*er. The firemen were hamper; d somewhat by the smoke, which at times was very thick. The back stairs of the Palmerstor. Buildings were soon a veritable cascade, water to a depth of three inches flowing from tho top floor to the bottom. Practically every office in the building hassuffered. When the alarm was first given, the caretaker's first thoughts were of fire Scapes, but the only available, means of . e «ape from his room ww an inch rope. As the room is situated at the top of the building, no attempt was made to use the, rope. 'Shortly after the minimised heat enabled use ladder to be rested against the build"s• the force of the jet lifted a sheet P'.iron rom the roof, and it came over Mo small parapet, falling upon tho pave&»Pt with a crash, and narrowly missing "Passing fireman. ..The. (he was got under with groat being completely extinguished in about 40 minutes. This was partly due V? the vapidity with which the water was P°sred into the burning rooms, but chiefly to the speed with which the light and inflammable contents burned.

The building is fortunately divided by brick partitions into sections, and one "of them ran up between the burning rooms and the caretaker's premises. This completely checked the progress of the fire, and the brigade was able to concentrate all its efforts upon a comparatively small area. Not a Picture Saved. Forty minutes after the alarm had been given, only one studio —Mr. Payne's —remained. Even that was damaged, but not by fire, water being the destroying agent. Not a single picture was saved from the other rooms, the only thing remaining being a mass of charred rafters,, beams, and pieces of frames. Incidents. Two or three incidents, which occurred in the early stages of the fire, caused some apprehension among the spectators. Once the men on the big extension ladder dropped a hose, and it fell across a telephone cable, squirting promiscuously until the water was shut off. The nervous onlookers quickly feared that some of the overhead wires of the tramway system might be brought down, but fortunately nothing serious of the sort happened, though a suspension wire was carried away. Later on one of the leads of hose burst at the corner of the Waitemata Hotel, and was rendered useless.

No estimate could be made at an early hour this morning of the actual damage done by water in the premises adjoining and below Artists' Flat. There can be no doubt, however, that tho damage is considerable. Beyond the figures given in connection with Mr. Moore-Jones's insurance, no details in this direction are available, though presumably ail the firms affected had policies.

MRS. FLETCHER'S STORY. AROUSED BY THE . FLAMES. Mrs. George Fletcher, wife of the caretaker, when interviewed by a Herald representative, stated thaw the usual inspection was made between 10.30 o'clock and 11 o'clock, when all was safe. Shortly after midnight Mr. A. A. Schmitt, the last tenant in the building, left. After she had retired, Mrs. Fletcher heard a light fall, 'as of brick, but at first took no notice. Later, however, she heard a distinct crackling, and investigation showed that a studio occupied by Miss Turner was on fire, possibly owing to a defective kerosene lamp. The alarm was given by someone in the street, and soon afterwards Fireman Edlind, accompanied by Sergeant Eraser, came up to fetch her two children, a lady friend, Mrs. Fitzsimmonds, and herself down to safety. They were then accommodated at tho Waverley Hotel.