A large fire destroyed a historic church-turned-wedding-and-event venue in downtown Indianapolis early Tuesday. Indy DPW performed an emergency demolition on The Sanctuary on Penn, near the intersection of North Pennsylvania and East Walnut streets, due to the safety reasons after the fire. Equipment was in position by noon and demolition began soon after. The fire was reported around 5:30 a.m. Dec. 24. A 13News crew at a scene saw flames ripping through the building and smoke billowing into downtown Indianapolis just after 6 a.m. IFD said the roof collapsed shortly after 6:15 a.m. By 6:45 a.m., most of the visible fire had been knocked down, but crews were still spraying water onto the building. Shortly after 7 a.m., IFD said the front of the building collapsed. Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Rita Reith said no injuries were reported and the building was unoccupied at the time and had working smoke alarms. Crews were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby buildings. MORE: https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/ifd-battling-fire-downtown-indianapolis-church-the-sanctuary-on-penn/531-5a60a052-bbd1-4de4-9fa4-bcef00f3bb1a