The smell of scorched building materials lingered near the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower on Monday afternoon as insurance adjusters made their rounds at businesses damaged by Sunday’s five-alarm fire.

The set of establishments at the corner of West Lombard Street and South Eutaw Street in downtown Baltimore were all shuttered Monday with varying degrees of damage. Most of the windows at The Goddess Gentleman’s Club were boarded up. Wiring hung near damaged ceiling panels at the slightly scorched Lombard Liquors. Broken glass was strewn about the lightly burned interior of Thai Elephant Wok, while upstairs, the living quarters and office of owner Krit Thanutruch were coated in ash and soaked fiberglass.

“I don’t know what to do next,” said Thanutruch, who is staying with a friend while his home and restaurant are closed.

A Baltimore City Fire Department spokesperson said Monday that officials had not determined where or how the fire started. Five businesses and one residential unit were affected by the fire, which began just before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, the fire department said. The conflagration brought over 240 personnel from various agencies to Eutaw Street to control it over the course of several hours, interrupting transportation through downtown Baltimore in advance of an Orioles game.

Thanutruch said he woke up Sunday morning to the smell of smoke. He looked out the window, quickly threw on a shirt and ran out the door to a crowd of firefighters. Baltimore Fire Station No. 1 is across the street from the block.

His business is now filled with fans airing out the property. An emergency generator was whirring out back.

On the corner, The Goddess Gentlemen’s Club escaped with relatively minor damage. George Kritikos, who owns both the building and the business, said the club had some smoke damage as well as busted walls and broken windows. He hoped The Goddess could reopen in a matter of weeks.

With the club poised to see a bump in business if the Orioles make the playoffs, “it’s terrible timing for us,” Kritikos said. “We’re kind of in a daze right now. It’s like one of these nightmares.”

Though it’s been The Goddess for about 30 years, the building has operated as a watering hole for more than a century. Baseball legend Babe Ruth’s father owned a saloon there, and died outside the business in 1918 while trying to break up a bar fight, according to the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum.

“It could have been a lot worse for us,” Kritikos said of Sunday’s fire. “By God or by Babe Ruth or whatever we escaped.”

Next door, the second-story Jano Ethiopian Restaurant appeared to have caved into its downstairs neighbor, Doc’s by the Clock. The restaurateurs who operate Jano and Doc’s were not available for comment.

Fikre Maraim Worku, one of the owners of Jano, said in an video posted Sunday on Instagram that he and his wife were “still in shock.”

“We don’t know what happened, but we are safe,” he said. “Hopefully we will meet soon again,” he told customers.

The listed owner of 34 S. Eutaw St., which hosts Doc’s and Jano, did not return requests for comment. On Monday, the T-shaped property was the only one with a yellow condemnation notice on its front. That building received a violation from Baltimore housing officials in December 2022 for numerous electrical wiring issues, and had been cited for allowing smoking indoors, according to city records. Those issues would have had to have been abated by the time the building was issued a new restaurant permit in late 2023, a city housing spokesperson said.

Baltimore Sun reporter Amanda Yeager contributed to this story.