By Gregory Korte
Enquirer staff writer

Engineers and city building inspectors want to know what caused a stone panel to fall off the facade of the newly built National Underground Railroad Freedom Center overnight Sunday.

The 2-foot-square block of Italian travertine stone fell from a 25-foot height off the western side of the building, facing Vine Street. The stone, discovered Monday morning, fell into an area away from pedestrians, and no one was injured. The Freedom Center remains open.

The $110 million center on Cincinnati's riverfront had its grand opening three weeks ago.

City officials want a report from a structural engineer before determining whether it's a symptom of a bigger problem.

"That's the $64,000 question, does it impact more than just this one panel?" said William V. Langevin, the city's director of buildings and inspections.

"It's not that the building is going to collapse," Langevin said, noting that the stone was decorative and fell from a non-load-bearing curtain wall. "But a stone of that size falling from any height could injure someone, to say the least."

The city expects a report from the structural engineer as soon as today.

Freedom Center managers called the falling stone an isolated event. The panels are attached to the wall by pins, and the one panel seemed to be improperly installed.

"There was an in-depth inspection beforehand, and this particular type of fastening stones has been used in many other places. We are as confident as we can be that it was an isolated incident," said Ernest O. Britton, the center's director of external affairs.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com