Beyoncé’s Garden District mansion under investigation as potential arson | Crime / Police

The fire that broke out Wednesday night at a vacant Garden District mansion owned by pop superstar Beyoncé is being investigated as a potential arson.

The fire in the 1500 block of Harmony Street appears to have started in the kitchen, where firefighters found books inside an oven, according to a source who was made aware of the investigation. A gas canister was also found in the house.

Neighbors who asked not to be identified said authorities appeared to suspect someone had broken into the house shortly before the blaze. A neighbor said people use an unlocked door to enter and exit the property.

Another, Jacques Michell, said: “Inside the house, I haven’t seen any activity in the two years I’ve been here. No activity at all.

A smoke alarm in the nearly century-old home went off at around 6:20 p.m., around the same time police received a report from a suspicious person in the 3100 block of St. Charles Avenue, just around the corner of the street, according to the authorities.

Officers determined that the suspicious person’s call was related to the fire, which was later classified as arson, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

No one had lived in the house recently, but the house had functional utilities, firefighters said. They declined to comment on what may have caused the fire to an alarm, but on Thursday investigators from the fire department, police and Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were seen inside the house.

The fire is just the latest chapter in the long history of the Harmony Street mansion.

The 15,000 square foot, three story Spanish Baroque building was constructed in 1926 by the then fledgling Westminster Presbyterian Church. It was inspired by Mission-style churches in Latin America and cost $ 84,000 to build.

The founding pastor of the church, admitted JC Barr, head of the Ku Klux Klan, left in 1930 following a disagreement over closing a Presbyterian hospital.

The congregation remained in the building until the late 1960s. After that, it remained vacant for several years.

Famous New Orleans ballet teacher Harvey Hysell, who was the son of a church organist, spent around $ 100,000 to acquire the building in 1977 and turn it into a ballet school. The school operated there until 2001, training a generation of New Orleans dancers, before the new owners renovated the building to a three bedroom, 3½ bath home.

In 2015, it was Beyoncé’s turn to become the owner of the house.

City records show that a shell company listing a mailing address for the management company owned by Parkwood Entertainment, 28 times Grammy winner, bought the house for $ 2.6 million that year.

This property is separate from another century-old New Orleans church that Beyoncé reportedly bought in 2018, on the corner of Camp and Seventh Street, about half a mile away.

Parkwood Entertainment did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beyoncé manager Michael Oppenheim said Thursday he was unaware of the blaze and declined to comment.