Several feet of a rock wall from a downtown Batesville building collapsed onto the roof of another building next door on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
Batesville Fire Chief Brent Gleghorn said engineers who came to the scene after the collapse estimated that over 40,000 pounds of a rock wall on the south end of the North Arkansas Dance Theatre (NADT) building at Broad and Main had collapsed onto the roof of the building next door, housed by the Law Office of Fuller Bumpers — with some of it breaking through the latter structure’s second-floor roof.
The chief said a crew began removing the rock and mortar and started repairs the next day.
Gleghorn said the walls were made of sandstone blocks and mortar — and that it would be wise for other downtown building owners to check their structures.
“I would encourage anyone that owns a building that is built like these downtown buildings are built, to dig in and look at the stability of their walls and their rock,” Gleghorn said. “The older this mortar gets, the softer it gets, and it just kind of crumbles and deteriorates over time. When one spot goes bad, then everything comes apart.”
The NADT building once housed Fitzhugh’s Clothing Store while the downtown cafe was located where the Bumpers law office currently sits.
No estimate of damage was available, and no injuries were reported.
In related news, Gleghorn noted the Batesville Fire Department battled a house fire in west Batesville on Friday.
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