Arson suspected in fire of mansion reportedly owned by Beyoncé, Jay-Z
The $2M Garden District home is vacant but the fire is now being investigated as deliberately set
Wednesday, a New Orleans mansion believed to be owned by Beyoncé and Jay-Z caught fire. The incident is now being investigated as a case of arson.
The New York Post reports that the Garden District home started to burn at 6:15 p.m. A spokesman for the local fire department stated that 22 firefighters arrived on the scene to put the blaze out, finally extinguishing it at around 8:30 p.m.
“If they didn’t get there when they did, it could have been much worse,” said the spokesman. “It’s a historic home.”
The mansion, originally the Westminster Presbyterian Church, was first built in 1927 and has six bedrooms and six-and-a-half bathrooms. Its value is listed as $2.4M.
According to The Washington Post, there were no reported injuries or evacuations as the mansion had been vacant for an unknown time. The New Orleans Police Department announced on Friday that an investigation of arson has now been launched after reports a suspicious person was seen near the mansion just before the fire began.
The upscale home, purchased in 2015 by Sugarcane Park LLC, is listed as being managed by Celestine Lawson, which is the legal name of Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Lawson. The building was being used as the home base for an eight-dancer ballet company until 2000, when it was converted into a personal residence, as stated by Realtor.com.
Lawson has ties to New Orleans and the state that go beyond managing the mansion. According to the Huffington Post, her family has ties to Louisiana and are of Creole and Cajun descent. In addition, in 2005 she co-founded the charity organization, the Survivor Foundation, to provide transitional housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina, according to Beyoncé’s official website.
The fire comes months after the 28-time Grammy winner’s storage units were robbed.
As per theGrio, three Los Angeles storage units rented by Beyoncé’s production company, Parkwood Entertainment, were broken into last March and burglars made off with several items that belonged to the “Black Parade” singer, including dresses and handbags. It was estimated that over $1M in property was stolen from those units.
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