Historic East Village church ready to reopen in time for Easter after devastating fire in 2020
EAST VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) -- An historic church in Manhattan's East Village is finally ready to reopen more than four years after a devastating fire forced it to close.
A fire on December 5, 2020, destroyed the Middle Collegiate Church Sanctuary.
Since then, worshipers have watched and waited as crews restored the refuge from the ashes.
The church's Tiffany stained-glass dome has been resurrected after the fire destroyed it.
"They put together some shards of glass and replaced some glass and put that back together for us in an act of mercy and love," said Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis of Middle Collegiate Church. "That is what it was. So, I can't even breathe when I say."
Rev. Dr. Lewis said they wanted the church to look familiar, particularly the sanctuary - or what they call the gathering space.
"What we could do was to bring elements of the old social hub back," she said. "So, this sanctuary was beautiful... colors. These colors are the same. This light green, this gold, those colors were here. But this is almost exactly the trim that the social hall had."
Rev. Dr. Lewis says coming home to a resurrected site on Easter Sunday is proof of life, and it's proof of faith.
"It is my faith that death doesn't have the last word," she said.
The six-alarm fire burned the 133-year-old sanctuary on Second Avenue and East Seventh Street down to the ground.
The brand-new sanctuary is around the corner, in a five-story building that used to be a social hall and classroom space.
Rev. Lewis said they are building in the old space, but there's a lot to do to rebuild the entire site. Rebuilding both sites are too expensive for now.
The historic church was founded more than 400 years ago, rising from the ashes with renewed life.
"It is such a symbol of what the fire did to us, like it did scorch us. It did break our hearts. You know, it did stun us. And at the same time, we're still here," Rev. Dr. Lewis said.
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