METUCHEN — The Metuchen Inn, a historic landmark in the borough, has closed for an indefinite period of time following an early morning fire last week.
The entire bar area of the 167-year-old buildingwas gutted as firefighters attacked the blaze. Officials determined that the cause was electrical.
A passerby noticed the fire and flagged down a police officer around 6:27 a.m. March 13. Metuchen police and firefighters responded to the scene.
“The fire was burning a good while before we got there, because the flames were visible outside the roof line,” said Fire Chief Rob Donnan.
Firefighters worked on the blaze for about a half-hour before it was brought under control, he said. The fire department continued working on it for several more hours. Donnan said about 35 to 40 firefighters from Metuchen were at the scene, as well as mutual aid engine crews from South Plainfield and North Stelton. Firefighters from the Edison Fire Department were on standby at the headquarters of the borough’s fire department, which is just down the street from the inn.
The Metuchen First Aid Squad was also at the scene in case of injuries; however, Donnan said there were none.
Middlesex Avenue was shut down as crews fought the fire.
Donnan said this was not the first fire the department has responded to at the inn.
“We probably have responded to about half a dozen fire calls over the past year. The most recent was just a small fire two months ago,” he said. “Our guys did a phenomenal job containing the damage to the bar area, because this is an old building and it just wants to burn.”
Windows at the inn are currently boarded up.
“It’s going to have to go under some heavy renovation,” Donnan said. “The whole bar area was destroyed, and the rest of the building suffered smoke and water damage.”
According to its website, the restaurant has been in business since 1843. It has three working fireplaces and private rooms.
Constantine Papanicolaou, who has owned the Metuchen Inn for 16 years, said he was “absolutely devastated” when he received the call about the fire.
“But from that time on, things started getting better,” he said. “I received thousands of phone calls in support from the community. There were people saying ‘Don’t worry, God will help you.’”
Papanicolaou said he is working with his insurance company and expects to have more information in the next few weeks. He hopes the reconstruction will be completed soon and said the inn may possibly re-open by summer.
“This gives us the opportunity to restore the place in the best way possible,” he said. “The community needs to know that we will be back.”