ST. LOUIS — A three-alarm fire engulfed a historic vacant church Monday night in St. Louis.
The St. Louis Fire Department responded at around 8:45 to a fire at the former St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, located at 3114 Lismore St., in the St. Louis Place neighborhood.
The building is designated as a St. Louis City Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said this is the third fire at the church since 2022. Flames reached the height of the 250-foot steeple and 60 firefighters fought the flames.
Jenkerson said the building is currently unsafe and at risk of collapsing.
"I'd rather see it taken down the right way so that we protect the homes that are still viable on the street. But then again, you look on the other side of that, it's a landmark. This is a beautiful piece of architecture built in the 1890s," Jenkerson said.
The church was constructed in 1896 by St. Louis architect Louis Wessbecher for St. Augustine's Roman Catholic parish. It was purchased by Christ Baptist Church in 1982.
The property is owned by the city of St. Louis' Land Reutilization Authority according to property tax records.
Before the city owned it, Brittany Breeden and her husband tried to restore the church, calling it "Project Augustine." Plans quickly fizzled in 2020 when they couldn't receive enough donations for restoration.
Neighbors including Sue Rakers came Tuesday to photograph the crumbling history. Rakers said she's been photographing the vacant church since 2016 and even went inside the church to take pictures at one point over the years.
"Buildings like these are hard to maintain and keep up but they're treasures to the city," Rakers said. "I just wish the city would take care of it and have more interest in trying to preserve them."
Charles Rawlings, a neighbor in the area, is calling on the city to do something more.
"We need to find some way to either barricade them up or just guard them off and just renovate them and do the things that need to be done to the buildings to keep them here as long as possible," Rawlings said.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. One of the things investigators are considering along with other causes is if it was a homeless person seeking shelter and trying to stay warm.
It's unclear what the future of the building will be but Rakers wants to take photos as long as it's around.
"There's so much that St. Louis has already lost, we just try to document it while we can," Rakers said.
Statement from the City of St. Louis' Land Reutilization Authority:
"Land Reutilization Authority will conduct an analysis of the property at 3114 Lismore and make a determination of next steps. St Louis Development Corporation has committed several million dollars to securing and stabilizing assets in LRA's inventory. LRA continues to look at ways to use more modern approaches to secure vacant buildings in its stewardship and is in active conversations with developers and community organizations to engage in the revisioning and reuse of these assets while accelerating the process of transforming vacant properties into productive uses."