An ornate, snow-covered canopy on the front of the historic Duluth building partially collapsed Saturday night, fire officials said.
No one was injured at the Greysolon Plaza, on E. Superior Street, when the awning fell about 8:15 p.m., but a security attendant was under it seconds before, the Duluth News Tribune reported.
Jeff Newton of Duluth was inside for a work Christmas party when he heard a large crash and the building shook. "There was a wedding upstairs, and we assumed that the DJ had dumped all of his equipment," he said in an interview.
But Newton soon found out it was much bigger than that.
When Newton made it outside via the side entrance, he said two of the four chains holding the awning were loose.
The building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, dates from 1925, when it was the Hotel Duluth. It now houses apartments and a ballroom available to rent for events.
Firefighters were on the scene for two-plus hours, Duluth fire officials said. The front entrance was sealed off, Everyone inside at the time of the collapse was held there and then later used the side entrance.
The cause and the amount of damage are not known, authorities added.
