Granbury’s historic Nutt House was a swanky hotel with luxury suites, communal bathrooms and a grand staircase, welcoming well-heeled Texans in the early 1900s.
Early Thursday, a fire engulfed the Texas landmark. Firefighters arrived at the hotel around 1 a.m., and photographs show flames shooting from second-story windows.
Although the fire was contained to the second floor, the entire building suffered smoke and water damage, city spokesman Jeff Newpher said. By 6 a.m. Thursday, firefighters were still extinguishing hotspots.
Authorities have not determined what caused the blaze. The hotel is under renovation, so no one was inside at the time.
Nearby streets were closed Thursday morning, and firefighters asked people to avoid the area.
Perched on the corner of Granbury’s popular city square, the Nutt House was built in 1893 by brothers Jacob, Jesse, and David Lee Nutt, who ran a mercantile store.
The brothers, all three blind from childhood, opened the hotel in 1910 above the store, which they initially ran out of a tent, and later a log building.
For the Nutt House, the brothers used native Texas limestone, which matches several other buildings on the city’s square, and added a sitting room for guests. Texas designated the building a historic landmark in 1970.
