Early morning fire guts 19th-century Manhattan church that houses New York’s Liberty Bell
- The bell tower houses New York’s Liberty Bell, which pealed to mark the birth of the nation in 1776
- Church minister Amanda Ashcraft said the Tiffany stained glass windows were gone
A historic church in lower Manhattan that houses New York’s Liberty Bell and whose congregation dates to the earliest days of the city’s settlement was gutted by a massive fire early on Saturday that sent flames shooting through the roof.
The Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village burned before dawn after a fire spread from a five-storey vacant building adjacent to the church at around 5am. Video posted on Twitter shows flames shooting from the roof and the church’s stately front window glowing from the conflagration inside.
“We are devastated. We are gutted like our building is gutted; our hearts are crushed like our doors are crushed,” said the Reverend Jacqueline J Lewis. “But we know how to be the church, and we know that God is God, yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
City Council member Carlina Rivera tweeted that no injuries were reported.
Built in 1892, the church is home to the oldest congregation of the Collegiate Churches of New York, which dates to the Dutch settlement of the island in the 1620s, according to the church’s website.
The Middle Collegiate Church had been in two other locations in Manhattan since 1729.