Early Tuesday morning, a blazing inferno enveloped The Sanctuary on Penn, a historic downtown Indianapolis structure now used as a wedding venue. The Indianapolis Fire Department received the alarm at approximately 5:38 a.m. It promptly engaged the fire at the intersection of E Walnut St. and N Pennsylvania St., with flames visibly pouring from the building shortly after their arrival, as reported by FOX59.
The historical significance of the venue, a church structure dating back to 1875 that housed the city's first Lutheran congregation and which was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, adds a layer of tragedy to the event, as seen on 13News where flames were tearing through the building and smoke was spreading over the downtown area, and to the dismay of 168 AES Indiana customers who faced power outages in the vicinity as of 6:28 a.m., but fortunately, no injuries have been reported as the building was empty, as confirmed by Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Rita Reith in a statement obtained by WTHR.
The fire, which had most of the visible flames extinguished by 6:45 a.m. due to the IFD's efforts, has left the roof of the cherished venue completely obliterated, at around 7 a.m. crews observed the devastation from the scene, as mentioned by FOX59 crews; the cause is still under investigation with roads around Pennsylvania Street being closed to facilitate firefighting operations as the IFD fought to keep the fire from reaching adjacent structures.
