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Building housing the former New Orleans Guitar Shop partially collapses on Magazine Street

Building housing the former New Orleans Guitar Shop partially collapses on Magazine Street

On By Littum

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A building housing a former New Orleans guitar store partially collapsed Monday night (Dec. 30), sending a cascade of bricks, lumber, glass and rubble onto Magazine Street near the Lower Garden District.

The New Orleans Fire Department was dispatched at 5:43 p.m. to the collapse at 1700 Magazine St. and arrived within five minutes. Seven companies with 25 firefighters responded to the emergency.

The building at the intersection with Felicity Street is the former home of Inlow Guitars, but was vacant Monday, fire officials said. No injuries have been reported inside or outside the unoccupied building.

Much of the roof and second-floor facade of the two-story building had collapsed, sending bricks and rubble onto the street and onto at least one parked car. Downed power lines were also visible nearby.

NOFD Capt. Quentin Brown said the cause of the collapse was under investigation and that city code enforcement inspectors were assessing the stability of the remaining structure. Brown said the area would remain closed to pedestrians and vehicles indefinitely.

First responders work within the perimeter of a partial building collapse Monday (Dec. 30) at
First responders work within the perimeter of a partial building collapse Monday (Dec. 30) at Magazine and Felicity streets.(WVUE-Fox 8)

Entergy New Orleans crews were also on the scene and had cut power to much of the surrounding neighborhood while the inspections took place. The duration of the power outage was not immediately known.

The Gris-Gris restaurant, located across the street from the fallen building, said in a social media post that it was “partially out of power and currently closed.”

An Entergy New Orleans spokesman said in a statement: “A structure collapse at the corner of Magazine and Felicity caused damage to Entergy equipment, including a transformer – which created the flash seen by those nearby. The transformer was affected by the building collapse, it was not the cause. Entergy crews are on the scene working with public safety officials to secure the site.”

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Monday’s building collapse comes just over two weeks after another caused significant traffic and trade problems in the central business district.

A three-story building housing the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities partially collapsed on Dec. 14 at the intersection of Lafayette Street and O’Keefe Avenue in Downtown New Orleans.

That collapse caused lane closures and support work that forced the Maypop restaurant across the street to close until Dec. 26 and forced dozens of employees at the distressed structure to work remotely.

A building at 1700 Magazine Street, at the intersection of Felicity Street, partially...
A building at 1700 Magazine Street, at the intersection of Felicity Street, partially collapsed into the street Monday night.(Google Maps)

This development story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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