Photo by Steven
This morning, workers finished removing the rest of the sidewalk bridge from the SE corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue, marking the end of the demolition on the Middle Collegiate Church property.
Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, previously told us this was expected to be a two-to-three-month job. It turned out to be about a month and a half, as work started on Nov. 20.
Lewis also explained that it would be a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers sifted through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that will eventually rise on the property. (We will post some of the in-progress photos next week.)
As previously reported, church leaders said they had to remove what remained on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property.
The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious."
By December 2024, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at 50 E. Seventh St.
Previously on EV Grieve:
