Friday, December 3, 2021

Marking the 1-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed Middle Collegiate Church

Photo from June by Stacie Joy 

On Dec. 5, 2020, a six-alarm fire destroyed the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street, including the sanctuary of the neighboring Middle Collegiate Church. 

Middle Collegiate will mark the first anniversary with a pilgrimage to the site on Sunday. 

Here are more details via church officials: 
The congregation will be making a pilgrimage from our temporary home at Calvary Episcopal Church at 21st Street and Park Avenue South to the ruins of our sanctuary on the one-year anniversary of the fire. We'll be starting the walk at 11:45 a.m. uptown, and should get to Middle Collegiate around 12:15. 

People are welcome to join us for that but for an easier way to show support, we're just inviting folks at any point during that day to stop by and leave an offering by the construction fence — a flower, a candle, an old photo of the building, whatever they’d like. 

We thought it would be beautiful if congregants saw other people's offerings when they arrived, and if we continued to collect expressions of love throughout the day.
The fire spared the steeple and its historic contents — the New York Liberty Bell, which dates to the early 1700s. The bell is for now housed at the New York Historical Society. 

The FDNY previously said that faulty wiring at 48 E. Seventh St. was to blame for the fire. An FDNY spokesperson told 1010 WINS that the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious." No. 48 was demolished. (More background here.) 

Middle Collegiate Church is currently raising funds to help rebuild the sanctuary (link here).

Previously on EV Grieve: 
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