SAN ANTONIO - Fire destroyed a downtown architectural treasure and damaged a nearby high-rise Saturday after huge flames engulfed the historic Wolfson Building across from Main Plaza.

No one was injured in the early morning fire, and its cause had not been determined late Saturday.

The blaze started at 4:19 a.m. on the first floor of the limestone, brick and wood building on the corner of East Commerce and North Main and spread to its second story. The west wall collapsed about 40 minutes later, narrowly missing firefighters, said Fire Chief Charles Hood.

He said firefighters had just trained to stay clear of so-called "collapse zones."

"We easily could have lost 10 firefighters," Hood said. "I'm not sure if it's a premonition, good timing, but we averted a disaster today."

San Antonio historians are calling it tragic nonetheless.

The Wolfson building, also known as the Bell building, was built in 1880 and first housed Wolfson's Dry Goods and Clothing store.

It was designed by prominent architect Alfred Giles, according to the San Antonio Conservation Society.

"This is really terrible. It's a major tragedy," said Mary Carolyn George, an Austin architectural historian. "They talk a lot about a building giving you a sense of place. This has been (there) for 125 years."