Fire ravages historic Asbury church

and Tammy Reiss A roaring four-alarm fire at 33rd and Chestnut streets March 9 destroyed the 113-year-old Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church -- which the University had been renovating for use by the Fine Arts Department. The building was set to open as the Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall in August 1997, but Graduate School of Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack said that the severe damage to the building presents a major setback to efforts to expand the department's facilities. "Several years of hard work have been lost," he said. "This has dramatically curtailed our plan to give much-needed space to popular courses like photography." The building would have provided studio, classroom and gallery space to both undergraduate and graduate Fine Arts students. The Philadelphia Fire Marshal's Office has been investigating the blaze for more than a week, but the cause of the fire has not yet been determined, according to Capt. Henry Dolberry, a Fire Department spokesperson. "If we had some kind of little magic glass, we could tell you," he joked. Dolberry explained that the department set up a square block "buffer zone" as they battled the afternoon blaze due to fears that several propane tanks at the scene -- which firefighters later removed -- would explode. And although final damage estimates were unavailable at press time, preliminary figures suggest a toll exceeding $3.5 million, according to University spokesperson Ken Wildes. He added that the University's renovations of the church would have totaled $8.2 million if the project had been completed. "We're all very disappointed," Director of Facilities Management Art Gravina said. "We were so close to getting it done -- it would have been a real jewel." Approximately half of the renovations had been completed, including work on the building's exterior and flooring, according to Gravina. Officials said they hope to complete construction of a new Fine Arts facility on that site by the summer of 1998. "We're going to try to rethink this project so we can open it as quickly as we can," Gravina said, adding that he is unsure how to "meet the scope of the project." Workers were finalizing the addition of a third floor to the building at the time of the fire, Gravina said. He noted that because the fire caused structural damage to the back and side walls of the building, only its "front facade" might be saved. "We don't know if we can or can't do that," he added. The initial project included repairing the building's stone shell, replacing the roof and installing new electrical, mechanical and fire protection systems -- all of which were completely destroyed in the fire. In addition, plans included the addition of a new entrance and the installation of a third floor into the two-story building. Although members of the Office of Risk Management refused to comment on the fire, Wildes noted that the building was insured and "all insurance documents were in place." Hack added that damage to the Asbury Church -- which was built in 1884 -- causes a "tremendous loss architecturally" to the West Philadelphia community. "No matter how much we rebuild, we will never be able to replace the character of the church," Hack said. Dolberry said a fire company returning from another assignment first noticed smoke coming from the building and reported it to department headquarters. The fire's first alarm was received at approximately 1:50 p.m., but it escalated into a four-alarm blaze within 20 minutes. More than 120 firefighters -- working with more than 30 fire trucks and other vehicles -- brought the fire under control at approximately 2:40 p.m., Dolberry said. No firefighters were injured while battling the conflagration, and no one was in the building when the fire started. Witnesses to the blaze recalled a spectacular fire that blew out the church's windows, sending smoke and soot everywhere and clogging the streets with people and cars. "A lot of people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off," said Drexel University senior Susanne Chester, who works at the Tuscany Cafe at 34th and Sansom streets. First-year Architecture graduate student Marcus Acheson said the fire is "terribly unfortunate" for Fine Arts students. "It's disheartening to see all the work come crashing to the ground in the blaze," he said. "But I do appreciate the growing space and consideration undergrads were given." Renovations to the church were funded by a gift given to the University by Lady Colyton, Addams' former wife. Addams, who originally created the Addams Family in New Yorker magazine cartoons, graduated from the University in 1934. Daily Pennsylvanian reporter Liz Goldhirsh contributed to this article.