BALTIMORE — Thursday, "The Castle" on Keswick Rd in Hampden, a community staple and old Northern District Police Station, stood as a shell of its former self.
A year ago the historic building, now 127 years old, went up in flames; the incident caused by an electrical accident.
It forced many businesses to vacate including Jill Andrews Gowns.
Jill remembers it like it was yesterday.
“It was horrifying because I was watching it raining inside the shop because there was so much water being pumped in," she told WMAR-2 News, “I couldn’t believe it was happening, oh my god, I have to save the gowns.”
She was able to save most of her gowns, but other supplies were left hanging on by a thread.
“I lost a lot of fabric that was irreplaceable.”
Rising from the ashes, Jill opened a new space for her business in June, still in Hampden on Union Avenue.
“I just kind of felt like I was coming home to the right place.”
She attributes that comeback to the love and support from the community, notably a GoFundMe started by friends.
“I think it all totaled about $40,000. It was like a godsend because I couldn’t have started to even begin to rebuild without that.”
While she believes she'll never quite be 100% back on her feet, last year's fire taught her a lesson.
“It’s given me an opportunity to reprioritize what’s important and I think what’s important right now is to be creative and to start making things and using the fabrics that I have left because now I learned the lesson, you snooze you lose.”
She, like many others, is looking forward to seeing the castle restored to its former glory.
WMAR-2 News reached out to the building's owner for updates on that process, but we haven't heard back yet.
