On November 3, 1954 the Arbuckle, one of Brooklyn’s oldest office buildings, vacant and slated for demolition to make way for the new Supreme Court building, was destroyed by fire.v The Brooklyn Eagle’s front page story by Gene Lushbaugh and Ken Johnston: “A roaring five-alarm fire transformed the ancient, abandoned Arbuckle Building opposite Borough Hall into a huge blazing torch early today and showered scores of buildings in the Downtown Brooklyn area with a flaming hail of fiery embers.

“Fire Commissioner Edward F. Cavanaugh Jr. called the blazing inferno ‘the most spectacular fire I’ve seen in 30 years of chasing fires.’

“The seven-story structure, which had been scheduled for demolition soon, was completely gutted, its floors, roof and sections of the outer walls consumed or collapsed into the basement.

“Demolition workers manning a huge crane with a swinging one-ton steel ball, moved in later and smashed down what remained of the building’s outer shell in record time, taking about an hour, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 to complete the razing job.

“Dense clouds of smoke were still rising through the wreckage from fires continuing to burn in the basement and sub-basement.

“While the blaze, which reached its height at about 1:30 a.m., towered hundreds of feet into the sky, flaming embers fell on banks, business houses and apartment buildings in the Borough Hall area and on Brooklyn Heights.

“Only the steady deluge of rain which had swept Brooklyn through the night and soaked rooftops prevented the fire from leap-frogging to other buildings.

“Tons of water, cascading into the 7th Ave. I.R.T. subway through sidewalk gratings, short-circuited the third rail and caused service on the Manhattan-bound line to be shut down and rerouted onto the tracks of the Lexington Ave. line.

“Police blocked off major downtown traffic arteries such as Fulton, Court, Washington and Willoughby Sts. for blocks around the scene shunting traffic out of the area.

“The fireproof Fulton Savings Bank, next door to the blazing building, suffered no damage but opening was delayed at the request of fire officials, from 9 a.m. until 11, while the demolition squad was at work. A rear entrance on Adams St. was first opened to the public and the main entrance a half hour later.

“No injuries were suffered by firemen although a group of 15 narrowly escaped death when a section of the upper stories of the seven-floor building collapsed.� Firemen blamed homeless bums for starting the fire. The Arbuckle Building was originally Dieter’s Hotel whose dining room specialized in terrapin.

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