The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — When Gov. Rick Perry’s office announced a multimillion-dollar restoration of the Governor’s Mansion last summer, officials warned that although the building had smoke detectors, there was no system to help slow what could be a catastrophic blaze.
The words proved prophetic as a weekend fire left the once-elegant mansion charred and partially collapsed. Eight months into the renovation, a new sprinkler system had yet to be installed.
Texas canine teams and a national arson unit searched for clues Monday to pinpoint where and how the blaze began even as state troopers guarded it Sunday.
Investigators have initially concluded from witnesses and video surveillance tapes the fire was set shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, said state Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado.
“We’re very confident we’re going to find the perpetrator that has caused the damage and that has committed this crime,” he said.
The fire caused parts of the roof to buckle and charred much of the front of the white structure and its famous Greek revival-style columns.
State officials have yet to assess the full impact of the damage. They’re waiting for state and federal law enforcement agencies to conclude their arson investigation.
They expressed strong interest in rebuilding the 152-year-old landmark, home to Sam Houston and all the Texas governors since.
“This house means a lot to the Perrys, it means a lot to all of the governors and their families who came before them and it means an awful lot to all Texans,” said Perry spokeswoman Krista Piferrer.
In addition to a sprinkler system, the project, first estimated at $10 million, was to include new plumbing, lead paint abatement and window and shutter restoration. It was to have been completed by next spring.
Contractors have completed plumbing upgrades on the mansion grounds and installed an air conditioning system in an adjacent carriage house. Those projects were unharmed by the fire.
Inside, all furniture and relics had been removed, paint and wallpaper had been stripped from the interior walls and experts had begun efforts to preserve the home’s ornate crown molding. Massive plumbing repairs inside the house had not been completed.
Asked whether the sprinkler system should have been one of the first renovation projects tackled, given the fire concerns cited last year, Piferrer said: “We’re not interested in looking back and playing the guessing game of what could have been done.”
Before the fire, the state had spent about $1.8 million on the project, including $9,900 a month for the Perrys to rent another home.
Now, the renovation will become a rebuilding.
“Certainly the governor, like all Texans, really wants to see the mansion restored to its original luster, but there’s going to be a long process here,” said Robert Black, a spokesman for the governor.
With no state money set aside for such disaster contingencies, Perry’s office has indicated they’ll explore all their options, including seeking money from the Legislature and private sources.
Michael Holleran, an expert in historic preservation, said enough of the landmark remains to restore it.
Holleran said the first priority of the restoration should be to repair breaches in the roof or enclosure to prevent wind and rain damage. Drying out the water and dampness also must be done quickly, he said.
He called the majestic mansion a “treasure of Texas.”
“If you’re able to picture what a little frontier town Austin was (when the mansion was built) you really can see in that building the ambition of this state, the demand to do something that was as good as any place in the world, and just to wield Texas into greatness,” said Holleran, director of the historic preservation graduate program at the University of Texas school of architecture.