The early morning fire on Saturday that destroyed the vacant 48 E. Seventh St. and neighboring Middle Collegiate Church at 112 Second Ave. made international headlines (BBC
here, for instance).
Workers have started
demolishing No. 48 (one source at the scene said they'd remove what's left of the 5-story building, bringing it down to two levels so FDNY officials could continue their investigation to the cause of the fire).
Meanwhile, officials were examining the historic church's façade to see what might be salvageable.
Hopefully we will learn more about the fate of the structure in the hours/days ahead.
Meanwhile, the
Times provided a thorough piece on the history of Middle Collegiate Church, which was built here in 1892. A fact that surprised some people: The church houses the New York Liberty Bell, which dates to 1725. No word on the fate of the bell.
A few other select headlines:
•
NPR has an interview with Rev. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Church.
•
CBS 2 covers the church's virtual service yesterday. (Middle Church has not had an in-person service since before the pandemic.)
•
Gothamist provides an update on the
Hopper House, the shelter operated by the Women's Prison Association at 110 Second Ave. that had to be evacuated. (Find our post on this
here.)
There will be multiple storylines continuing to emerge from this tragic fire. We'll continue to provide updates on the latest developments.
As for the southeast corner at Seventh Street...
Workers have mostly cleared out the rest of what was 48 E. Seventh St., where the six-alarm fire started ...
Looking north from Sixth Street, you almost can't even tell that Middle Collegiate Church suffered such massive damage...
There hasn't been any official word on the cause of the fire... or the fate of the remaining structure at the church.
