The Jacob Wirth Restaurant was a historic German-American restaurant and bar in Boston, Massachusetts, at 31-39 Stuart Street. Founded in 1868, Jacob Wirth was the second-oldest continuously operated restaurant in Boston when it closed in 2018.[2]
The Greek Revival building housing the restaurant was constructed in 1844. The German-style restaurant was founded in 1868 and was the second oldest continuously operating restaurant in the city after the Union Oyster House.[3] The restaurant was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980[1] and designated a Boston Landmark in 1977, with interior and exterior protections.[4] Jacob Wirth was the first distributor of Anheuser Busch products.[citation needed] The Wirth family and Anheuser family are from the same small town in Germany.[citation needed]
In 2010, Chelsea developer AJ Simboli Real Estate purchased the property for $1.6 million.[5] The restaurant was put up for sale in January 2018[2] after having filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy,[6] and closed following a fire in June of that year.[7][8] As recently as October 2021 there was a restoration effort under way to repair fire damage and reopen the restaurant as it had been prior to its closure.[9]
In March 2022, the building was purchased by Greater Boston Bar Co. for $5.27 million.[10] Their initial hope was to reopen the restaurant by the end of 2022.[11][12] The new owners planned to reopen the restaurant in early 2024.[13] The building was gutted on June 25, 2024 in a large fire.[14]
