East Villagers blamed a “cursed” building for the raging inferno that gutted a historic Manhattan church yesterday — as sorrowful services with a message of hope resumed online Sunday.
Middle Collegiate Church’s Rev. Jacqui Lewis, PhD broke down in tears during the livestream as she grieved the church’s destruction and fondly reflected on the memories and important events that shaped the church’s inclusive congregation.
She was accompanied by more than a dozen choir members who serenaded grieving viewers from their apartments in a choreographed musical number on Zoom.
The East Village church was destroyed Saturday morning when a fire spread from an abandoned building next-door on East Seventh Street. It had been in two other Manhattan locations since 1729, and the church was built in 1892.
The shuttered restaurant Via Della Paca at 48 East Seventh Street was also damaged, and residents at the Women’s Prison Association’s Hopper Home on 110 Second Avenue were safely evacuated but displaced.
“We don’t know (why the fire started.) That’s being investigated. But I’m so sad about it. And I’m mad about it… Out of these ashes, out of our grief, something is going to emerge that will surprise and delight us,” preached Lewis, who promised the church would rebuild.
Religious leaders discussed how members had held the community together through the AIDS crisis, and how it helped build and support a multiracial congregation that grew from 400 people to 1,400 under Rev. Lewis. The church had previously live-streamed services from inside the century-old Gothic Revival structure.
The vacant building where the blaze broke out previously caught fire in February, and the smoldering church is just steps away from the scene of a deadly explosion that rocked the neighborhood in 2015.
February’s fire was ruled accidental, but the five story apartment building from 1920 has four open violations with the Department of Buildings and has 33 complaints with the DOB dating back to 1991.
Two local residents told the Post they think the location “is cursed,” and neighborhood blogger and author Jeremiah Moss elaborated on what he tweeted was “another loss for the East Village.”
“We’re all wondering about arson. It’s disturbing. It really increases the sense of vulnerability. You start to feel like there’s a curse,” Moss told the Post of the troubled corner.
Fire marshals are investigating the cause of the inferno, and have not released any information about how it was sparked.
They are also looking into whether New York’s Liberty Bell, which was housed in the church’s tower, can be salvaged.
The famed bell tolled for the birth of the nation in 1776, and more recently sounds in remembrance of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.