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Fire destroys part of Berkeley's First Congregational Church

Steven Finacom
Friday September 30, 2016 - 05:22:00 PM
Steven Finacom
Steven Finacom
Steven Finacom
Steven Finacom
Steven Finacom
Steven Finacom

UPDATE: Other media report that the main sanctuary of First Congretional Church was damaged but not destroyed in Friday's fire. Contributions can be sent to https://www.gofundme.com/Berkeleychurchfire.

A four alarm fire gutted part of the historic First Congregational Church complex on Dana Street between Durant and Channing early Friday afternoon.

The blaze began in the southern wing of the "C" shaped building which the Church calls Plymouth Hall. That wing, with two stories and a basement level, contained the rectory, church offices, and meeting rooms. The wing appeared gutted by the fire, with the roof collapsed, eaves burning, and the sky visible from the street through second floor windows.

The fire went to four alarms, with Oakland and Albany engine companies responding. A brisk wind blew heavy smoke north and east and down to street level, forcing the evacuation of the four-building Unit III dormitories directly across the street. Several streets were closed in the vicinity. At the time of this writing Channing Way, Dana Street, Haste Street, Ellsworth north of Channing, and Durant Avenue east of Ellsworth were closed to through traffic.

By late-afternoon the fire appeared to have been suppressed, with engines pouring both water and foam into the damaged structure. 

Photographs of the early stages of the fire posted on other news sites appear to show the fire burning in its early stages at the western end of the Plymouth Hall wing, along Channing Way. 

The First Congregational Church Facebook page posted at about 2:00 PM that "what we know so far is that it (the fire) is related to work that is being done on the roof." Closer to 4 PM the Facebook page posted that a memorial service scheduled at the Church for Saturday was being moved to Kensington, and that the First Congregational congregation would worship Sunday at First Presbyterian across the street and Dana and Channing. 

The church sanctuary is a popular location for music concerts, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra website listed concerts scheduled there for for November. The congregation is known for its progressive values and programs. 

The center of the building is the large sanctuary of the Church complex. The fire appeared to have scorched the southeast corner of the sanctuary, and gotten into a portion of the attic. For a time smoke could be seen coming from the extreme southern end of the sanctuary attic and the roof was being drenched with water that poured off the steep roof on both sides. Later, water was visible being blasted through the roof from inside the building. 

The northern wing, which contains other meeting rooms and the church chapel and a childcare center did not appear to be visibly damaged. The northern portions of the building suffered a fire in the 1970s, but here later rebuilt on the interior. 

First Congregational is the oldest religious congregation in the campus area, dating back to 1873. Its founders included founders of the private College of California which first owned what is now the UC Berkeley campus. The first services in Berkeley were held in June of 1874. Services were first held in the current building in August, 1925. The next month during dedication celebrations the presidents of both the University of California and Stanford University were guest speakers at the church. 

The current neoclassical complex, with red brick exterior and white wooden details, is the third complex occupied by the church. It was built in the mid-1920s, designed by Horace G. Simpson. The original church was a small wooden sanctuary located at the northeast corner of Dwight and Telegraph. The congregation later moved in 1897 to an impressive wood frame neo-Gothic church at the present day location. That complex was torn down less than three decades later and replaced by the current structure. 

Plymouth Hall, the wing damaged by the fire, is especially historic in Berkeley. Seventy five years ago in May, 1942, the building hosted Berkeley's Japanese American families who were being sent into forced internment by the United States Government during World War II. 

Berkeley's Japanese-Americans were originally ordered by the government to register and assemble for deportation at a municipal fire station on Durant Avenue a few blocks west. Members of First Congregational opposed the deportation, and felt especially that the assembly point was inhumane. They offered Plymouth Hall as a location where their Japanese-American neighbors could come for the registration and to board the buses and trucks parked along Dana Street that would take them, under guard, to the Tanforan Race Track on the Peninsula and, later, guarded internment camps further inland for the duration of the war. 

Church members from First Congregational and some of the nearby congregations of other denominations offered hospitality--food and other support--at Plymouth Hall during the assembly and deportation.