Three years ago today, a work light that had been left on accidentally caught a curtain on fire in one of the steeples of the old St. George Church on Calhoun Street. In the hours that followed, the fire spread to engulf one steeple, and the wind carried the flames over to the other. The two steeples that had towered over Clifton for 135 years burned for several hours on the freezing cold night, and by the time the sun came up the next morning, they were, for the most part, completely gone.
On February 1, 2008, the steeples of St. George burned through the night.
At the time of the fire, the church was no longer used by any congregation. It was vacant most of the time, minus an occasional community meeting. Luckily, the owners (Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation) had insurance coverage on the building, and decided to replace the steeples, some day. However, three years later the church still has temporary caps placed on the steeples. With no real occupant, it's likely the repairs won't be made until a viable client can be found to use the space. Despite it's former life as a church, it's not unlikely that in the coming years a restaurant or retail store of some sort will be interested in the building. A nearby church on the corner of Calhoun and Ohio is an Urban Outfitters, for example.
The following photos were taken exactly three years ago today, on a freezing cold night that saw the destruction of the first of many of my tripods. Despite no tripod and shaking hands in the ~10F degree weather, I managed to capture a few photos of the fire:
