It’s been two weeks since the Impact Center Providence Church caught on fire during routine construction, demolishing the over 100-year-old building’s steeple and leaving much of the interior in disrepair.
Since the incident, members of the church community have overcome the fire “with grace,” said Katy Pickens ’24, a planning and preservation writer for the Providence Preservation Society and a former managing editor and vice president of The Herald.
They “haven’t missed a beat,” Pickens added.
The steeple inadvertently caught flame on Jan. 29 amid roof repairs while a contractor was sealing a copper covering with a torch, said Lead Pastor K. Percy Ballah, a co-leader of the congregation.
Ballah described watching the center burn as “one of the most horrific tragedies” he has ever witnessed.
Firefighters from the Providence Fire Department responded to the blaze alongside “mutual aid from other communities,” PFD Spokesperson Lindsay Lague wrote in an email to The Herald. There were no reported injuries.
The official cause of the fire is still under investigation, Lague added.
The building on Elmwood Avenue serves the community “beyond just being a place for worship,” Pickens said. Before the fire took place, the congregation was going through an “intense” application process to place the building on the National Register of Historic Places through the Rhode Island Preservation and Heritage Commission, she added.
In addition to hosting weekly Sunday services, the center is also home to a youth group, food pantry, community closet and soup kitchen, Pickens said.
Ballah recalled feeling “broken” when he saw the damage, but knew he “needed to be prepared to support people” in the aftermath of the blaze.
The congregation has since temporarily relocated to 184 Broad St., and has continued its services in the building.
The Elmwood building is over 100 years old, Pickens said. It was built in the early 20th century by Gorham Henshaw, who specialized in church designs in Providence and Cranston. The building has housed several congregations over the years.
Along with repairing the Elmwood location, the pastors hope to renovate Renaissance Church to be a community center for the congregation.
But the Impact Center community is still passionate about remaining at its location in South Providence, according to Ballah.
“We don’t want to leave,” he said. “We want to stay here.”
