INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Sanctuary on Penn, a historic church building that first welcomed parishioners 149 years ago and found new life as a wedding venue, burned down on Christmas Eve.

The chapel and sanctuary at 701 N. Pennsylvania St. in downtown Indianapolis was reduced to rubble during the fire, but its place in the city’s history still stands tall.

Dedicated as First Lutheran Church, the brick and stone building at the corner of Walnut and Pennsylvania Streets was home to the city’s first Lutheran congregation.

According to the IU Indianapolis library, the location of the church was an indication that St. Joseph “was an area of transition between the commercial downtown and the new residential ‘walking’ neighborhoods” of the city’s north side.

First Lutheran Church went up in two stages. The chapel was built in 1875 and the sanctuary was completed in 1886.

The church was built in the Gothic Revival style with a high gabled slate roof, long, narrow Gothic arched windows with limestone surrounds, and brick turret buttresses at the corners. The round arches in the panel surrounding the stained glass rose window were of the Romanesque Revival style.

The church was dedicated on March 27, 1887. A reporter for The Indianapolis Journal described it this way:

“About the pulpit was a profusion of beautiful plants and flowers, while through the stained glass windows streamed the softened light. The morning audience filled the room…and the beauty and comfort of the church were remarked by all.”

The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It became The Sanctuary on Penn in the 2000s and hosted hundreds of weddings in the years that followed.

Crews spent Tuesday afternoon tearing down what remained of the church. By Christmas morning, only debris remained.

I-Team 8’s Kody Fisher spoke to some of the people affected by the fire.

Missy Patton stood and watched the demolition with her fiancé. She told Fisher, “We would drive by and think, ‘This could be the spot for us.’ We are heartbroken for the couples who have been married here and ones that were getting ready to have their ceremonies here.”

The owners of The Sanctuary on Penn did not return News 8’s request for comment, but on its Instagram page, a post says an update will come after the holidays, adding, “For now, we grieve.”