Fire damages historic building owned by Clark Atlanta

ATLANTA - A fire has damaged what remains of a historic building at the Atlanta University Center Thursday morning.  

Officials have confirmed with FOX 5 that the fire broke out shortly before 7:30 a.m. inside Gaines Hall, which is located on the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in northwest Atlanta.

Crews arrived to find flames shooting out of the brick building. 

After a short time, firefighters were able to douse the majority of the blaze. They remain on the scene putting out hot spots.

The hall, which built in 1869, was the oldest building on Morris Brown's campus and the first permanent building at the campus.

The historic building caught on fire in 2015. At the time, the fire department wanted the building razed, but historic preservationists saved the structure. Two years after the fire, the building became the property of Clark Atlanta University. 

The building was named one of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation's 2017 Places in Peril. Plans were made to renovate and restore it, but the work hadn't started yet.

 Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.

Officials have not released any information about if anyone was injured in the fire.

Both sides of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive had been closed while crews work at the scene.