2 Found Dead in Fire at McKinley Mansion : Destruction: The historic structure near Lafayette Park was abandoned years ago. Police believe the victims may have been among the transients who frequented it.

The bodies of two people believed to be transients were found in the charred wreckage of the McKinley Mansion, after fire gutted much of the boarded-up structure near Lafayette Park on Monday morning.

The identities of the victims, the cause of their deaths and the cause of the fire were not immediately determined.

Los Angeles firefighters said the blaze, reported at 6:09 a.m., was extinguished about half an hour later. One of the bodies was found on the second floor and the other in the third-floor attic.

The crumbling, 13,000-square-foot Italian Renaissance-style home at 3rd Street and Lafayette Park Place had been vacant for years. However, police say homeless transients often scaled the chain-link fence surrounding the spacious, weed-choked grounds to take up temporary residence there.

The ornate, 20-room house was built by a millionaire from Ohio in 1914 for use as a winter home. It is named for Mator McKinley, a wealthy mortuary owner who bought it in 1945.

The city declared the house a cultural-historic monument in 1987, but that designation did little to forestall the mansion’s continuing deterioration. Plans to move the house fell through, and it was boarded up after suffering earthquake damage.