ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990                   TAG: 9003102428
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TEGA CAY, S.C.                                LENGTH: Short

FIRE DESTROYS HOME WHERE BAKKERS LIVED

The mansion where TV evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker once luxuriated amid his-and-hers bathroom suites, three kitchens and an air-conditioned doghouse was destroyed by fire early Friday.

The 10,226-square-foot home on a hill overlooking Lake Wylie - which once featured exercise rooms and as many as 25 room-sized closets - was bought and remodeled by New Jersey businessman Robert Rubino in 1988.

Rubino, who paid $685,000 for the house after the collapse of the Bakkers' religious empire, was out of town and the house unoccupied when the fire was reported at 2:15 a.m., said Tega Cay Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bill Kruysman.

"It looked like a volcano spewing up," said Kruysman, adding that the five-level home's layout hampered firefighters. "This house is huge. It has been added on and added on, and there have been additions to the additions." - Associated Press 


 by CNB