Twenty-one people were evacuated yesterday morning from a three-story North Side apartment building that was destroyed by fire.

The abutting building, the historic Priory Hotel at 614 Pressley St., also evacuated 11 units. It sustained water and smoke damage but escaped serious damage.

"The jury is still out, but we're hoping to be partially open in a few days," said John Graf, who owns the boutique hotel along with his wife, Suzanne.

The fire next door broke out about 3:30 a.m. in the yellow-brick apartment building, owned by Susan and Frank Kurta of Shaler. The back section of the U-shaped duplex structure, at 608 and 610 Pressley, was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, District 1 Chief William Martin said.

No residents or firefighters were injured in the fire despite icy conditions. The Red Cross found shelter for all 21 residents, including 10 adults and 11 children, in city hotels, Chief Martin said.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. Firefighters remained on the scene for hours after the fire was extinguished due to expectations that smoldering debris might reignite, Chief Martin said.

Mrs. Kurta said her apartment building, which along with the Priory is part of a North Side historic district, appeared to be a complete loss, and Chief Martin said it likely will have to be demolished.

"I'm shocked," Mrs. Kurta said. "I got a call from our roofer this morning who said the building was on fire. When we got here at 9 a.m. there were still flames, and the fire truck was still working on it."

The duplex contained six apartments with five occupied. The empty apartment was scheduled for occupation on Feb. 1.

Mrs. Kurta said she and her husband have owned it for two years, but her parents owned it the previous 40 years. Residents inside the building, she said, worked together to get everyone outside the building, which she said had been gutted and refurbished about 10 years ago. Each apartment had five rooms, including two bedrooms.

The historic red-brick Priory Hotel was built in 1888 as a monastery, then converted into a boutique hotel with 25 guest rooms in 1986. Guests occupying 11 of those rooms Sunday morning were evacuated then led six blocks to Springhill Suites-North Shore, where they were provided hotel rooms for the rest of the night.

During weekdays, hotel guests mostly are business people, but weekend guests consist mostly of tourists or the leisure crowd, which was the case Saturday and yesterday, Mr. Graf said.

The hotel sustained water and smoke damage in the basement, consisting mostly of offices, and on the third floor, where firefighters had to break through walls to make sure the fire hadn't spread into the hotel. The third floor sustained smoke and water damage that could take longer to fix.

"We're doing our best to minimize the damage," Mr. Graf said, while working at the hotel to repair damage. "It could have been a lot worse, and fortunately no one was hurt.

"We got damage, but it is something we can get up and running in a short period of time."