The incredibly unique Sk8 Liborius Social Club, a St. Louis skate park built within a 150-year-old cathedral, burnt down in a devastating 4-alarm fire earlier this week. Firefighters responded to the burn at around 10:45pm on Wednesday, June 28. Significant structural damage and the fire’s progression through the roof forced an evacuation of fire personnel within the building.
According to USA Today, Sk8 Liborius opened in 2014, with the Liborius Urban Art Studios non-profit beginning in 2016. The 150-year-old building has mainly been used for rentals, drone flights, immersive plays, music videos, and other private events/parties. The long term goal, of course, was to turn the cathedral into a skate park and art center.
“We are devastated. There’s a lot of passion in this project and we’ve been doing it for a long time. The community is super involved. We love including the community in this work … We’re just super thankful that everybody is okay.” – Liborius Urban Art Studios president Lorna Kurdi
The group has raised $67,642 through GoFundMe since opening the fundraiser in 2021. The money was initially intended to be used to renovate, improve, and make the building safer. Now it will need to be used for extensive repairs. The group did post on Facebook that there are currently no known injures.
Below is the incredible short documentary focused on the work gone into and going into the building, released around a year ago.
Image Credit: SK8 Liborius Social Club via Facebook