Firefighters responded to a fire Saturday in what first responders described as an abandoned church at 887 Progress St., near the intersection of 16th Street on the North Side.
The building is near the northern end of the David McCullough/16th Street Bridge and the Heinz Lofts apartment complex.
The fire was reported at 2:50 p.m. in the old St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church and a first responder reported “heavy smoke coming out of every opening” of the structure.
Firefighters believed the source of the blaze to be in the upper part of the structure and opened a hole in the roof to gain access.
Officials report a portion of the internal vaulted sanctuary did give way but no external structural collapses occurred.
The cause of the fire has not been found but the city’s fire investigation unit detectives did determine that the fire started on the first floor.
The parish was founded in 1871 as the only Bohemian parish in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. It was rebuilt in 1900 and used until 1989 when it was sold.The building served as an art/music venue, The New Bohemian, from 2013 to 2015.
First Published: February 1, 2025, 9:53 p.m.
Updated: February 3, 2025, 1:09 p.m.
