A downtown Baker City building that has endured dozens of blizzards since its brick walls were mortared together 128 years ago succumbed to the great snows of 2017.

The Crabill Building, constructed in 1889 at 1916 Main St., sustained severe damage Sunday morning when the snow-covered roof collapsed.

No one was inside the building, which is used for storage, and there were no injuries, according to a press release from the Baker City Fire Department.

The majority of the damage was on the second floor of the Resort Street, or east side, of the two-story building, which occupies the block between Main and Resort streets.

Firefighters arrived at 8:10 a.m. after receiving a call about the building’s collapse, according to the press release from Fire Chief Tom Wills.

Firefighters evacuated people in both adjacent buildings, including the Geiser Grand Hotel immediately north of the Crabill Building.

Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner said Tom Hanley of Hanley Engineering and Ken Hall, Baker City building official, were examining the Crabill Building this morning to determine the safety of nearby buildings.

“Snow load is what cause the collapse,” Lohner said. “It was definitely snow-related.”

There is no threat of the front part of the building collapsing, according to initial reports, Lohner said.

Several blocks of Resort and Main streets were closed to traffic the rest of Sunday.

Geiser Grand Hotel owner Barbara Sidway said this morning that she and her husband, Dwight, had a structural engineer examine the hotel Sunday, and he determined there was no damage to the hotel, which was in the process of reopening this morning.

The Geiser Grand also was built in 1889.

Delicioso Mexican Food restaurant at 1910 Main St., south of the Crabill Building, was also expected to reopen today.

Main Street, including the sidewalks on the east and west sides of the street were expected to reopen about noon today, he said.

Resort Street was expected to be closed for a few hours longer, Lohner said.

Grand History LLC, a corporation operated by Barbara and Dwight Sidway and that also owns the Geiser Grand, bought the Crabill Building in April 2004 for $130,000, according to Baker County Assessor’s Office records. The building has a market value of $141,740, according to records.

Originally the first floor of the building was a restaurant, and the second floor contained offices and a dance floor, according to a pamphlet produced by Historic Baker City Inc. that includes brief histories of many of the city’s historic structures.

In 1960, brothers Hans and Bert Neuberger moved their business, Baker Furniture Co., into the Crabill Building. Hans died in 1997 and Bert in 2001.

See more in the Feb. 6, 2017, issue of the Baker City Herald.