A historic Armenian church in San Francisco was halfway destroyed by a fire that police suspect was set ablaze by arsonists.
The St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church at 51 Commonwealth Ave. in the Laurel Heights neighborhood caught on fire early Thursday morning.
Firefighters responded to the blaze just after 4 a.m., according to NBC Bay Area, and were able to extinguish the fire.
But there was extensive damage in the building adjacent to the main church, with two floors of four floors gutted.
“The building housed Vasbouragan Hall, as well as offices for St. Gregory Armenian Church and various organizations,” the church board of trustees said in a statement to ABC7.
St. Gregory has been the primary place of worship for many Armenians in the Bay Area dating back to its first service in November 1957. The church also has long ties to Fresno: In more recent years, the Holy Trinity Armenia Apostolic Church in Fresno would partner with St. Gregory for events, including young adult spiritual trips.
We met with Fresno’s @holytrinityministriesfresno along with @fr.ashod and @fr.smpad to discuss Fresno and San Francisco’s upcoming young adult spiritual trip.
Posted by St. Gregory The Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church on Monday, March 2, 2020
Armenian community leaders told ABC7 the fire was set in three separate locations in the building: Sunday School classrooms, the church office and in the Hamazkayin Library.
District Attorney Chesa Boudin tweeted out calling the suspected arson an “outrage.”
SFGate said church leaders believe this could be related to the vandalism that happened at San Francisco’s Armenian School Krouzian-Zekarian-Vasbouragan in July. The school walls were vandalized with graffiti that conveyed anti-Armenian messages.
Investigators have classified the vandalism as a hate crime and the suspects in that case remain at large, police told NBC Bay Area.
