A New Denver heritage building has been badly damaged by fire.
It was most recently the Village Hearth Restaurant and before that Rory’s on Main.
Fire chief Leonard Casley estimates damage at $200,000 but thinks the building can be saved.
Casley credits fire protection measures added during the renovation to turn the building into a restaurant for the fact it’s still standing. An adjacent building of similar vintage was completely unharmed.
The fire started in a store room late Sunday but Casley says the exact cause may never be known. It’s not considered suspicious.
An upstairs tenant wasn’t home, but the person who spotted the fire was treated for smoke inhalation.
Historian and author Henning von Krogh says Walter Merkley put the building up in 1897.
More recently it was the Valhalla Trading Post before being converted into a restaurant.