Fire destroyed Beaumont's 121-year-old Gilbert Building

Fire has destroyed a 4-story building in downtown Beaumont. Flames and smoke were reported at about 7:00 coming from the 121-year-old Gilbert Building, which was built in 1903 at the intersection of Pearl and Bowie Streets. The two-alarm fire kept Beaumont firefighters busy throughout the night and into Friday morning. Although there was little they could do to save the building, they managed to keep the flames from spreading to other nearby structures. Daybreak on Friday revealed that although the outer shell of the building was still standing, the interior and the roof were completely gone. According to the City of Beaumont, the Gilbert Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building had been owned the last five years by developer Tom Flanagan, and in a statement he wrote that there were plans of creating upscale loft apartments in the building. Flanagan also insinuated that the cause of the fire could be due to homeless people and vandalism. Meanwhile, the official cause of the fire remains under investigation.