Art Alliance fire cause ruled ‘undetermined,’ says fire marshal

Just over a week ago, the Curtis Institute of Music was finishing a clean-out of the Philadelphia Art Alliance, making plans to conserve the historic building’s interior murals and other architectural details, and envisioning how it would utilize the newly acquired piece of prime real estate on Rittenhouse Square.

Now the front entrance is boarded up and a charred smell hovers around the fire- and water-damaged building.

How the July 4 blaze that brought out more than 120 firefighters began is unknown. The Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office has ended its investigation, a fire department spokesperson said. No evidence of foul play was found, but the office did not discover what caused the fire, ruling it “undetermined.”

The music conservatory does not yet have a report from its insurance company on the full extent of the damage, though Curtis president and CEO Roberto Díaz said Thursday that portions of the building sustained different levels of water and fire damage.

The main roof partially collapsed and the interior stairs were damaged in the fire, according to a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections who said that Curtis was working with contractors to make the property safe.

No architect, remediation firm, or construction company has been engaged to oversee stabilization efforts, Díaz said. Coordination was being handled by the school’s chief financial officer, Chris Dwyer, who has been in his job just two weeks. Curtis spokesperson Patricia Johnson declined to make Dwyer available.

“Some structural engineers were there,” Díaz said, “and they said obviously there’s damage in the building that needs to be addressed, shoring up a few little things that need to happen before we can do temporary work.”

Johnson said that structural reinforcement was expected to begin Saturday, including temporary shoring with trusses “for safety reasons and to help prevent any further damage.” The shoring includes the second-floor front wall, but Johnson said she was unsure whether it included other areas as well.

Views into the third-floor windows of the building reveal that major portions of the roof have been destroyed.

Curtis plans to install scaffolding outside the building pending city approval that will support a “tarp-like system to protect the entire building,” including a temporary roof, Johnson said.

Díaz said he had no information about how the fire started. He reiterated that the school ― which covered the building’s $7.6 million price tag in January in part with proceeds from a $255 million fundraising campaign ― still plans to restore and occupy the Art Alliance building, for the benefit of both Curtis students and the community.

“It’s an incredible tragedy and shame what happened to it,” he said, “but we will do right by it, I am sure.”