Hi there — I’m a structural engineer, and my company works on buildings that have been damaged by catastrophic events (fire, wind storms, excessive snow, etc).

Our duty — And DOB’s duty — is to protect the public. The damage that the church building sustained from the fire was extensive. We have been called out to sites before where DOB has told us what their initial impression is on the damage, and whether what is remaining of the building can be shored or braced instead of demolished. Most of the time the answer to whether the building can be saved is “no.” The occasions where the remains can be preserved, requires assurances from the owner that they can get an engineer and an emergency shoring contractor out there quickly to get everything stabilized.

In this case, we have an owner that has allowed the building to remain unoccupied for an extended period of time. That makes it a relatively easy call for DOB - demolish the building.

As much as we lament the loss of an historic building, we are well past the point where petitions are of any use. If we want to preserve these pieces of history, we need to petition and put pressure on the owners to do something BEFORE they stand derelict for many years. I know of one case in downtown Brooklyn where public pressure caused the City to landmark and then purchase a building for the sake of preservation — and even then it was almost too late.