Fire At The McCay "Hell House"

We are heartbroken. The “Hell House“, which we discovered to be the one-time home of famed cartoonist Winsor McCay, was set ablaze on Friday morning.

From Courier-Life:

The Sheepshead Bay “Hell House” earned its moniker Friday morning after a smoky fire forced panicked residents out into the two-day blizzard.

Firefighters responded at about 8:30 a.m. after the blaze broke out on the second floor of the three-story, single-room-occupancy building at 1811 Voorhies Avenue.

It took upwards of 60 smoke-eaters nearly a half-hour to beat the fire down.

No injuries to either firefighters or civilians were reported.

The cause of the blaze, which erupted on the second floor, was still unknown by Friday afternoon, but fire sources listed it as suspicious. Fire marshals were investigating.

FDNY sources said that there was “a good amount” of fire and water damage because it took so long to put the blaze out.

We haven’t been to the location yet to view the damage ourselves, but hope to this afternoon. We’ll let you know if it’s as bad as it sounds. We’re hoping that this doesn’t mean a restoration is totally out of the question, or that it is so damaged it must be torn down.

We’ll watch closely and get back to you as we find out more.