The remains of a historic East Village church that has witnessed more than a century of history and was destroyed in a fire are being demolished.

Onlookers watched as demolition crews began removing the façade and the steeple of the sanctuary of the land marked Middle Church in the East Village that dates back to the 1890s.

“Though the façade did not fall down, it actually did burn up,” said Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of the Middle Collegiate Church. “And it is not safe.”

While speaking at a press conference outside of the remains of the church Monday, Lewis said the fire did not destroy the congregation, which had been worshipping virtually following the fire.

The church’s congregation started worshipping together long before the building was erected.

Religious leaders describe themselves as the oldest continuous Protestant worshiping community in North America, dating back to 1628.

Though, it is a complicated history.

“I’m not proud of that story, that they bought the land from some of the Lenape,” Lewis said. “That they build some of the city on the backs of my ancestors.”

In recent decades, the church has been known to welcome people from all walks of life, and they say they have a congregation of about 700 people.

“But I am super proud that Middle Church became this multiethnic, multi cultural many faiths community,” Lewis said.

Next year, the church plans to worship temporarily in a nearby townhouse the church owns, which also needs renovations, while they design and build the new church to be called Middle’s Center for Spirituality, Justice and the Arts, that will include a sanctuary and theater.

It’s not clear if the new structure will also resemble the Gothic Revival architectural style, but the hope is to continue a long tradition they describe as radical inclusivity, in a new building

“For people that feel isolate and don’t know that there is a place that they fit in, I think is super important,” said Tom Smucker, who has been a member of the church for 35 years.

The Middle Church steeple was also home to a nearly 300-year-old bell called New York City’s liberty bell, which made it out of the fire virtually undamaged.