A four-alarm fireplace decimated the previous Jacob Wirth Restaurant constructing Monday evening — derailing plans to reopen considered one of Boston’s most historic bars.
Simply earlier than 11 p.m. Monday, Boston firefighters responded to the constructing underneath development at 31-37 Stuart St. close to the Boston Widespread, the division reported. Heavy flames had ripped by three flooring of the constructing, and the fireplace was raised to 4 alarms.
“Companies are attacking the fire from all directions, using the adjacent parking garage to battle the 4-alarm fire,” Boston Fireplace posted to X, previously Twitter, round 11:30 p.m. with photographs of hoses capturing up into the smoking, singed constructing. “Multiple deck guns and ladder pipes continue to pour water on the fire from above and below.”
The constructing was vacant and underneath development, Boston Fireplace mentioned. There have been no accidents to report, Fireplace Commissioner Paul Burke mentioned in a briefing after midnight, and the injury is estimated about $3 million.
The hearth will doubtless throw a serious wrench into plans to reopen the previous Jacob Wirth bar, a historic Boston landmark.
The restaurant and bar was shuttered after a fireplace and chapter in 2018. Jacob Wirth opened in 1868, making it the second oldest repeatedly working restaurant in Boston earlier than the closure. Union Oyster Home is the oldest repeatedly working restaurant in Boston.
After failed bids to remake the house, the constructing was acquired by buyers with Jacob Wirth Realty Belief in 2022, who proposed protecting the German-American restaurant intact as carefully as potential to its authentic kind. Homeowners have introduced and pushed reopening dates for the restaurant a number of instances, however urged a 2024 opening date to the Boston Business Journal in fall of 2023.
The restaurant, placed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations in 1980, was long-known for its German beers, schnitzels and brats.
“We’re heartbroken over the fire that occurred late last evening,” mentioned spokesperson Jamison LaGuardia on behalf of Jacob Wirth Realty Belief. “We’ve been working diligently to restore this landmark building, first opened in 1868, to continue the great legacy of Jacob Wirth for future generations. We are deeply thankful to the Boston Fire Department for its fast response, and beyond grateful no one was injured.”
