Grace Zokovitch
Boston Herald
(TNS)
A four-alarm fire decimated the former Jacob Wirth Restaurant building Monday night — derailing plans to reopen one of Boston’s most historic bars.
Just before 11 p.m. Monday, Boston firefighters responded to the building under construction at 31-37 Stuart St. near the Boston Common, the department reported. Heavy flames had ripped through three floors of the building, and the fire was raised to four alarms.
“Companies are attacking the fire from all directions, using the adjacent parking garage to battle the 4-alarm fire,” Boston Fire posted to X, formerly Twitter, around 11:30 p.m. with photos of hoses shooting up into the smoking, singed building. “Multiple deck guns and ladder pipes continue to pour water on the fire from above and below.”
The building was vacant and under construction, Boston Fire said. There were no injuries to report, Fire Commissioner Paul Burke said in a briefing after midnight, and the damage is estimated about $3 million.
The fire will likely throw a major wrench into plans to reopen the former Jacob Wirth bar, a historic Boston landmark.
The restaurant and bar was shuttered after a fire and bankruptcy in 2018. Jacob Wirth opened in 1868, making it the second oldest continuously operating restaurant in Boston before the closure. Union Oyster House is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Boston.
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After failed bids to remake the space, the building was acquired by investors with Jacob Wirth Realty Trust in 2022, who proposed keeping the German-American restaurant intact as closely as possible to its original form. Owners have announced and pushed reopening dates for the restaurant multiple times, but suggested a 2024 opening date to the Boston Business Journal in fall of 2023.
The restaurant, put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, was long-known for its German beers, schnitzels and brats.
“We’re heartbroken over the fire that occurred late last evening,” said spokesperson Jamison LaGuardia on behalf of Jacob Wirth Realty Trust. “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.”
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