Believing the cathedral 's brownstone construction made it fire safe , congregants and neighbors filled the cathedral with their valuables hoping in vain to protect them from the Great Fire of 1861 . A week prior to the 1861 destruction by fire , the Cathedral 's insurance policy was allowed to lapse . This lack of insurance coverage combined with the realities of the Civil War in Charleston caused the Cathedral ruins to stand for decades unaddressed . The ruins stood , as pictured below after the Great Fire of 1861 , until the major 1886 Charleston earthquake caused part of the ruins to collapse
1886 Charleston earthquake
1886 Charleston earthquake
Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar