CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Heavy snow appears to have been the cause of a partial roof and wall collapse Tuesday morning at the Aragon Ballroom on Lawrence Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood.
According to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford, there were no apparent injuries when part of the Aragon Ballroom’s roof and parapet wall came down Tuesday morning around 8 a.m.
Tressa Feher, chief of staff for 46th Ward Alderman James Cappleman, checked out the alley between the building and the CTA station and said one nearby resident was pretty lucky.
"There was a person who lives just north of there coming through the alley, but he actually got stuck in the snow and couldn't get through, thank God, and the bricks fell in front of [his car]," she said.
Feher said about a 15 foot section of wall came down and damaged the fire escape.
She said it appears other portions of the roof were at risk of collapse, too.
Meanwhile, on Twitter, the CTA said Purple Line Express service was suspended at Lawrence because of debris that fell onto the tracks.
No injuries were reported as of 9 a.m. as firefighters worked to remove the debris in the 1100 block of West Lawrence Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
By 10 a.m., the CTA said Purple Line service resumed and that Red Line trains were bypassing Lawrence.
The Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom is at 1106 W. Lawrence and was built in 1926. Feher called the Aragon a "beautiful landmark building" that, on the front edge of the roof, has "wedding cake design-type flourishes on it."
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