The White Sulphur Springs Hotel, a resort over 100 years ago, and later owned by a church in Queens, was torn down Wednesday.

An impromptu inspection of a former boarding house has led to the Berne town building inspector to recommend that the town order it either secured or demolished by the owners, a church in Queens that uses the building’s property, but not the building, as a retreat center.

Stewart’s has bought the house next to its Altamont store. A year ago, the village board declined to change the zoning of that parcel from residential to commercial, nixing plans Stewart’s had for expansion.

Reviving the historic property — used as a community park, a summer hotel, and a christian retreat in Berne — along Route 443 has been complicated by an expensive demolition.