A bed and breakfast in Rochester's East Avenue Preservation district was heavily damaged after a fire ripped through the house.

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

"It's the only house I've known," said Jill Cicero.

Cicero and her four brothers grew up in home on Dartmouth Street.

"So, this is really hard to watch it go up in smoke," said Cicero.

For more than 20 years, it served the East Ave Preservation District as the Dartmouth House Bed and Breakfast.

"About 22-23 years ago, my mother turned it into bed and breakfast and I give her so much credit because she was 60 years old. She chose then to start a business. It's a thriving business, or was," said Cicero.

According to its website, it's where "everyone was treated like royalty."

"She loves people, she loves to cook, she does all the cooking. She decided that would be a great way to use the house and then let other people enjoy it as well," said Cicero.

Just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, the Rochester Fire Department was called out to the house after a neighbor called to report a fire. When firefighters got there, it was engulfed in flames.

"Our son and our daughter-in-law stayed here and they liked it very much and we talked to the people. They were delightful, so it's very sad to see," said Judy Brown, a longtime neighborhood resident.

No one was home at the time of the fire. Fire investigators say the cause isn't suspicious. Still, they aren't sure how it started.

"Every fire is a shame but this house really is a beautiful house. It suffered extensive damage," said Chief John Caufield of the Rochester Fire Department.

Firefighters worked to salvage whatever they can from the home, but for Cicero, the damage is already done. She says her mother and her husband, who own the home, are out of town and may only come back in memories.

"They are vacationing. This is their reward for themselves from such a busy schedule with the bed and breakfast, and I have a feeling they are not going to have a home when they come home. So I don't know what's next," said Cicero.

Dartmouth House Bed and Breakfast