Fire inspectors say there was too much damage for them to determine what caused a fire early Thursday that destroyed a house on St Joseph’s Museum Hill. The cause will be listed officially as “undetermined.”

The blaze was reported at about 1:30 am Thursday at 1013 Angelique, and by the time the battalion chief arrived, the structure was fully engulfed in flames and was collapsing. By mid-morning Thursday, all that was left was a pile of bricks and rubble. (find more details here)

Nigh Johnson, a volunteer with the Landmark Commission for the City of St Joseph, had just taken a series of photographs as the commission considered placing the address on its “most endangered” list.

“The whole west side of the building had collapsed, there was a huge hole from the third floor all the way down to the basement, that had destroyed the side of the building,” Johnson says.

The commission plans an event next week to help raise awareness about historic structures that are in similar straits.