Neighbors, firefighters and Vicksburg police officers carry furnishings from the home at 1322 Chambers St. Tuesday night. (Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[2/11/04]A 92-year-old Chambers Street home described as one of the finest in Mississippi was reduced to a shell in a blaze Tuesday night.

Vicksburg Fire Chief Keith Rogers said some of the first-floor belongings of the stately home at 1322 Chambers St., just off Cherry, were salvageable, but most of the nearly 15,000-square-foot home was destroyed.

“We heard what sounded like something falling and came to see if there was a disturbance outside,” said Patricia Procter, who was at home with her husband, George Procter, when they noticed the fire. “We came around the hallway and smelled smoke.”

No one was injured in the blaze that roared for about three hours. The initial fire call was made at 8:50 p.m., and the home continued to simmer until about 6:30 this morning, Rogers said.

About an hour after firefighters arrived, flames shot from attic windows as emergency workers and neighbors formed a line to move out furnishings.

The homeowners said they believe the fire stemmed from construction work, sanding and cleaning, in the attic Tuesday.

“We have reason to believe that the fire began in the northwest corner of the attic,” Rogers said.

He said it apparently slowly smoldered for four or five hours before being noticed.

“We definitely don’t think it was intentional,” he said, but the cause remained under investigation.

Four city pump trucks were at the scene throughout much of the night. He said the city’s ladder truck, which was also there, could not be used because of utility lines.

The blaze drew about 50 people from the close-knit neighborhood, and many were distraught at the scene.

Harry Sharp, who owned the home from 1986 until 2000, was among those who stood in the rain on the sidewalks, driveways and porches throughout the evening.

He said several insurance adjusters had told him the house was the finest built in the state.

“It was a wonderful place for the children to grow up,” he said of his two children.

Sharp’s son, David Sharp, 21, spent his childhood in the home. “I thought this house was indestructible,” he said.

“It’s a fortress,” he said. “Who would have ever thought it would burn?”

The home was built and originally owned by the Fitz-Hugh family, who had lived in Vicksburg as early as 1886. William Henry Fitz-Hugh was associated with P.P. Williams and Company, a wholesale grocer and was the vice president of Peoples Savings Bank.

The external design of the home known in its early days as Fitz-Hugh Hall, was a replica of Sabine Hall and the interior was a replica of Carter’s Grove, both in Virginia.

The home was designed by Phillip N. Stern of Fredericksburg, Va.

Huge limestone columns stand in front of the home and were not damaged in the fire.

Sharp said each room had a different type of wood.

The dining room was made of oak; the living room had walnut; the side sun porch was cherry.

Sharp said the floors were parquet oak and were the first to be made by Anderson-Tully, a Vicksburg lumber company and woodworkers.

David Clement, architect for the City of Vicksburg, said the structure was one of the finest in the city.

“You can build the house, but they don’t grow the wood anymore,” Clement said of the “old-growth” timber used in building the home.

Nancy Bell, executive director of the Vicksburg Foundation for Historic Preservation, said the Chambers Street area was one of the most fashionable neighborhoods at the turn of the century.

“It was one of the most significant Neoclassical Revival residences in Vicksburg,” Bell said. “It’s beautifully detailed; all of it was the finest quality you could ever find.”

The Fitz-Hugh family lived in the home until 1955, and the home has had several owners since then.