'Devastated': 150-year-old St. Louis cathedral-turned-skate park destroyed in fire
A skate community in St. Louis is making plans to rebuild after a historic church used for skateboarding, art and creativity burned down this week.
The fire broke out Wednesday night at St. Liborius Cathedral, 150-year-old church in north St. Louis. It started in the rectory and spread from there, the St. Louis Fire Department said in a Facebook video.
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said there were embers, or fiery pieces of wood that shoot off from the main fire and get carried to other areas.
"This fire took off very quickly," Jenkerson told television station KSDK. “We had embers coming out (of) this fire. They were all moving north into the residential neighborhood that we had to protect. It was all protected."
On Thursday afternoon, SK8 Liborius posted an update on Facebook and said there were no known injuries.
The fire comes after years of fundraising, owner says
Owner Dave Blum first gained ownership of the church in 2012. SK8 Liborius was started two years later and then in 2016, they started a nonprofit, Liborius Urban Art Studios.
Their goal is to repurpose the church into a skate park and center for art/music, skill training, education, and mentorship, the organization said.
Over the years, the church has been used for private rentals, immersive Shakespeare plays, drone racing, hip hop videos and meditative sessions, organizers said. They previously hosted parties and other events to raise money and get the building up to code. They’d like to open a skate park and art center.
Organizers also started a GoFundMe with a $500,000 goal. Now, after the fire, they’ll have to use some of those funds to rebuild.
“There's no roof anymore,” Blum said. “The building is a shell but we're not done yet. We're going to continue our mission in a new form.”
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‘We are devastated’
Lorna Kurdi is president of the group’s nonprofit, Liborius Urban Art Studios.
She said community members watched the building burn down and returned the very next day to talk about how they’ll clean it up and get things going again.
“We are devastated,” she told Paste BN Friday afternoon. “There's a lot of passion in this project and we've been doing it for a long time. The community is super involved. We love including the community in this work ... We're just super thankful that everybody is okay.”
Kurdi said got involved in the project about a year-and-a-half ago. She loves the church.
“I showed up and walked inside,” she said. “You just walk in the front doors and it's just bone-chillingly amazing.”
She still gets goosebumps when she walks into the building, she said.
Joss Hay is a former board member at SK8 Liborius. He is also devastated but said they will push forward.
“It's such a loss for the community,” Hay said. “It's such a loss for us. It was about continuing the work … the Catholic Church had created something so beautiful and we were continuing that and building community.”
Hay was born in Scotland and moved to St. Louis around 2014. Some of his best friendships were formed in St. Louis, he said.
When word got out about the fire, friends from Denmark, Spain and other parts of the world were the first to reach out and offer condolences.
“I always say if you're a skateboarder or if you're anything in extreme sports … you meet a friend no matter where you are in the world. When you see someone else with that skateboard or BMX, you're all connected. You're all on the same journey. You're just in a different part of the world.”
Young people need St. Liborius Cathedral, owners say
Kurdi, president of the group’s nonprofit, said they aren’t sure what the future looks like but they’ll keep working.
“We're committed to the community,” she said. “We're committed to St. Louis. We're committed to skating and we're committed to art … We need continued support to continue moving forward.”
Organizers posted a documentary about SK8 Liborius in November 2021. In it, they said the park has served as a safe haven for skaters in the area.
Blum, one of the owners, was featured in the documentary and said SK8 Liborius will continue the work of the people who built the church.
“The society that built these types of buildings doesn't exist anymore,” he said at the time. “It’s an incredible building and if we don't save this type of stuff, it’ll be gone. Underserved urban youth, that's the congregation here now. That’s who needs this place. That’s who needs a lot of different spaces that don't exist. That’s what we're doing.”
To donate to SK8 Liborius, visit www.tinyurl.com/SK8Church.
And to keep up with organizers, check out www.instagram.com/sk8liborius, www.facebook.com/SK8Liborius and www.sk8liborius.com.