First Floor

The fire that killed five people and destroyed their Abingdon home in January began in the first-floor living room of the two-story, frame house, fire officials said yesterday. Investigators said they have not determined the cause of the blaze that killed Jerome and Annette Shropshire and three of their grandchildren Jan. 18. But they have ruled out arson and eliminated several possible sources, including the heating and electrical systems. Investigators from the state fire marshal's office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent weeks on the scene combing through debris.

Baltimore firefighters rescued three people during a fire at a West Baltimore rowhouse early yesterday and two of them, including a 14-year-old boy, remained in critical condition last night, a fire department spokesman said. About 4 a.m., firefighters responding to a one-alarm blaze in the 1900 block of N. Payson St. found a rowhouse with heavy fire and smoke on the first floor and heavy smoke on the second floor. A woman was in a second-floor window, surrounded by smoke, said spokesman, Chief Kevin Cartwright.

Two burning rowhouses sent a cloud of billowing smoke over Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood yesterday in a fire that left one firefighter slightly injured, a fire official said. Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman, said firefighters were called to the 1200 block of Dellwood Avenue about 11 a.m. About two hours later, the firefighters had the blaze under control. The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said. The blaze heavily damaged two rowhouses at 1207 and 1209 Dellwood Ave. Loveus Whyte, 70, owns the house at 1207 Dellwood where the fire started.

Beyond heavy wrought-iron gates, a wavy brick path leads to the side steps of a gray stone, Gothic Revival parish house, once belonging to Christ Episcopal Church. Building and gardens are snuggly tucked behind the grand townhouses of Mount Vernon's Chase Street. David Egan opens the building's double doors with an invitation to cross the threshold. The scent of old wood and beeswax wafts through the entrance area, conjuring memories of services, celebrations and quiet reflection. The fragrance lingers in the recessed, arched, diamond-leaded glass windows and in the intricately carved woodwork soaring to 15-foot ceilings.

A two-alarm fire destroyed a popular Glen Burnie bar early yesterday, Anne Arundel County fire officials said. Firefighters were alerted about 4:30 a.m. to a building fire at 7328 Furnace Branch Road East and found heavy smoke and fire rising from the second floor when they arrived about 10 minutes later. The roof of Dotson's Live, which occupied the second floor, collapsed, and it took about 50 firefighters about 90 minutes to get the blaze under control, said Lt. Russ Davies, a Fire Department spokesman.

The woman who died Sunday night in a fire at her Highlandtown rowhouse has been identified as Mary Kasprazak, 59, a city Fire Department spokesman said yesterday. Firefighters responding to the single-alarm fire about 9:30 p.m. found Kasprazak unconscious in a first-floor room of the dwelling in the 500 block of S. Streeper St. and carried her outside, where she was pronounced dead a few minutes later, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. Ida May Samenski, a neighbor, said Kasprazak had lived there alone since her parents died a few years ago. "She was a friendly neighbor but stayed mostly by herself," Samenski said.

Fire officials said yesterday that a rowhouse fire in Greektown that killed a Baltimore firefighter Tuesday probably started in the rear basement of the two-story home, but investigators were still unsure what caused it. Investigators spent the day sifting through debris from the house on South Macon Street, just off Eastern Avenue. Fire Marshal Theodore G. Saunders said officials might not know what caused the fire until next week at the earliest. He said arson has been ruled out. The fire injured two firefighters and killed Allan M. Roberts, 40, a 19-year veteran and the first city firefighter to die while battling a blaze in more than a decade.

Having grown up in Philadelphia, Karen Fretz knew the value of buying a piece of history. And that is exactly what she and her husband did in Baltimore when they bought a 125-year-old Hollins Street property, next door to the H.L. Mencken House on Union Square "I loved my house even when it wasn't nice," she says with a laugh. That was in 1985. The three-story, red brick townhouse in the West Baltimore neighborhood was on the market for $60,000. "You should have seen it," Fretz continued.

Where Chad and Leah Gillespie are concerned, less is more. And this personal preference is evident in a minimalist style of home decor that is both artistic and functional. From street level, their rowhouse on Riverside Avenue in Federal Hill is a three-story brick structure, not unlike the thousands renovated in every neighborhood throughout the city. From the threshold, however, the interior sight is one of sleek openness, clean, natural, and sparse, yet elegantly decorated from front to back.

Developers are proposing projects ranging from a mix of condominiums, shops and restaurants to a biomedical research facility to a Red Roof Inn for five mostly vacant properties scattered across downtown Baltimore's west side. The city has received 11 proposals from developers, the city's economic development agency said yesterday. The Baltimore Development Corp. had requested proposals in April to revitalize a total of seven scattered sites in the once-struggling neighborhood. The properties, all city-owned, are near planned redevelopment projects or in blocks where new private investment is occurring, city officials said.