Owner loses battle to save the Humpfrees building in Downtown Shreveport

The owner of a downtown Shreveport historic building lost his battle to keep the city from tearing down the Humpfrees building.

On Monday, a Caddo District Judge denied Marcus Hunter's request for an injunction to stop the demolition of 114 Texas Street. In Sept. the Humphrees building sustained severe fire damages.

Shreveport City attorneys claimed that Hunter did not provide enough evidence to show that the demolition would hinder plans for the site in the future.

On Sept. 21, the Shreveport Fire Department received a call to the 100 block Texas Street on reports of a fire. Upon arrival, firefighters reported heavy smoke and sizable flames coming from the former Humpfrees building.

Read: Fallen bricks can't destroy the memories after historic Humpfree's building fire

Firefighters immediately deployed multiple elevated water streams to suppress the fire and to protect nearby businesses that were threatened by the potential spread of fire. A second alarm was called which doubled the initial response bringing 32 fire units to the scene.

The fire was placed under control and all that was left standing the next morning was some pillars and rubble of the historic Humpfrees building.

The Humfrees building has stood vacant for a number of years and prior to the fire the Shreveport Historic Preservation Commission met in June 2022 to discuss possible demolition of the vacant dilapidated building.

More: Fire in historic downtown Shreveport abandoned building damages other buildings on block

Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Downtown building owner loses battle to save the Humfrees building