We’re getting our first look as the sun rises of the damage done to the St. Liborius Church in North City. It has been converted into a skate park—all of which is destroyed by a 4-alarm fire. @KMOV pic.twitter.com/5dfaVsu6wh
— Caroline Hecker (@carolinehecker) June 29, 2023
A catastrophic fire took down St. Louis’ famed Sk8Liborius (1850 Hogan Street) overnight, marking a devastating loss for the tight-knit local skateboard community.
The previously abandoned north city church (originally the Roman Catholic parish of St. Liborius) was adopted by St. Louis’ skate community years ago, and they fixed it up and turned it into an spectacular indoor skate park.
Beautiful graffiti pieces lined the walls, accented by the heavenly windows and the slanted light they sprayed on to the scene inside.
Though the project started with just a small ramp on the floor and a few underground parties, the space soon grew into a fantastic and legit skate park and urban art museum hailed by all who visited as St. Louis’ coolest secret spot.
Went to Sk8liborious in St Louis today. What insanely cool space. Reminded me of Eastern Europe squats and they do shows there too! Wish I knew how to ride a skateboard, I’d be there every damn day pic.twitter.com/3E2wnJKM5B
— Laura Jane Grace (@LauraJaneGrace) July 7, 2021
Sadly, at about 10:45 last night a fire started in the rectory and spread quickly to the rest of the building. Firefighters say the fire spread quickly due to the current dry weather conditions, but thankfully no injuries have been reported either on the church site or at the City Hope St. Louis shelter next door.
Floating embers from the four alarm church fire were the likely cause of a secondary nearby fire, the St. Louis Fire Department said. That second fire (in the 1800 block of Warren) was in a three-story brick building with no floors or doors. No injuries were reported.
The people behind Sk8Liborius were in the process of raising money to get Sk8Liborius and its Liborius Urban Art Studios up to code.
They’d raised $60,636 as of this morning.
This story has been updated..@CFDstlfd briefing the media relative to the 4th Alarm #fire @Sk8Liborius (Church converted to an indoor skate park) & rectory building.
— St. Louis Fire Dept (@STLFireDept) June 29, 2023
No injuries immediately reported. #STLCity pic.twitter.com/92dN5Vljm0
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