Atlanta Firefighters Battling Second Blaze in Historic Building

June 13, 2024

It was the second fire in the former Morris Brown College Dormitory in 16 months.

Lexi Baker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

(TNS)

A former Morris Brown College dormitory caught on fire Thursday morning, officials said, the second time in the past 16 months that a blaze tore through the historic building.

Crews arrived just before 8 a.m. and used a defensive attack to put out the fire at the building, formerly Gaines Hall, which is located just off Northside Drive at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to Atlanta Fire Rescue.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, pending an investigation, officials said.

In 2015, a two-alarm fire caused damage to the building. A second fire in February 2023 then caused significant damage. Following the first, investigators said the building needed to be demolished, but it has remained empty since then, according to Channel 2 Action News.

Part of the Atlanta University Center Historic District, the building was built in 1869 and designed by William Parkins, according to the Atlanta Preservation Center. After a 2017 court ruling, it changed hands from Morris Brown to Clark Atlanta University.