S
warthmore's Ingleneuk Tea House, like a dapper elderly gentleman whose hat has been whisked off by blustery winds, is struggling to hold onto its dignity. The local restaurant–officially recognized as a historic landmark by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1977–is now a study in contrasts after being ravaged by a March 18 fire. The 84-year-old restaurant is wrapped in yellow protective tape, keeping once-welcomed diners at a distance to ponder the damage.The first floor stands largely intact, with spider plants still bravely signaling signs of life through the sunroom windows. But the third floor–where the blaze first became visible and ultimately caused the roof to collapse–-gapes at the sky.
The fire-eaten walls of the 19th-century Victorian house were filled with years of memories. Writer Leslie Osgood Kurzthalz, a Smith '05 graduate who was drawn to Swarthmore's Quaker college town, opened the teahouse on Lafayette Avenue in 1916; an argument with her employer, the Ladies Home Journal, prompted her to leave the magazine business and open the 25-seat restaurant. Because the original house had several fireplaces, the Scottish spelling of "inglenook" (meaning a nook by a large open fireplace) became its now-ironic namesake.
The Ingleneuk's then-booming business soon expanded to the Thatcher House, its current location on Park Avenue that was converted into a 225-seat home-style restaurant in 1918. Afternoon tea was still served in a cozy atmosphere, where informally dressed employees–including many College students such as James Michener '29 and former University of California President Clark Kerr '32–also offered trays of turkey, mashed potatoes, and quickly devoured sticky buns. Over the years, other famous visitors gracing the Ingleneuk's parlors were Henry Ford II, who ate there during World War II, when Ford Motor Company had an assembly plant in Chester; Michael Dukakis '55, former governor of Massachusetts; and restaurant critic Duncan Hines.
The Ingleneuk has remained in the Kurtzhalz family for three generations. William Kurtzhalz, now 86, started working there in 1937 and carried the business into the second generation. His stepmother died in 1971, and Kurtzhalz sold the restuarant to daughter Sara "Sally" Kurtzhalz Perrine and her husband Scott in 1980. "We lived on the top floor of the restaurant for a while," said the elder Kurtzhalz of his early years there. Even after selling the business, he continued as a part-time cashier, greeting longtime customers, such as Rotary Club members, with a good story.
"I thought, oh boy, no Ingleneuk today," said Kurtzhalz about his adjustment to the aftermath of the fire. "When my wife, Marcia, and I were out shopping the other day, we ran into some Ingleneuk customers. I realized that I may never see some of the others again," he said mournfully.
"We still went to the restaurant often–-it was so much a part of both of our lives," his wife said. "We were married there, and our family had many parties there over the years." Referring to the fire, she added: "No one suspected that there was a problem. It was one of those weird things that would have been corrected if we had known."
According to Swarthmore's Fire Chief Cris Hansen, the accidental blaze "started between the first and second floors above the kitchen stove ventilators in an uninsulated space." The Swarthmore Fire and Protective Association, district and state police, and insurance company fire investigators concluded that the probable cause was pyrophoric carbonization, which occurs when a combustible material, like wood, is exposed to prolonged moderate or high heat–decreasing the temperature needed to ignite–and can eventually result in spontaneous combustion.
"The fire started and stayed in the walls, traveling upward through the 'balloon' construction of the building," Hansen said of the blaze, which was first called in at 9:23 p.m. on Saturday night and was under control by midnight, even though it smoldered until nearly 5 a.m. on Sunday. "We had to find the concealed fire as it traveled through the walls, which made it difficult to extinguish and was labor and time intensive," he added, explaining the need for seven other fire companies.
Volunteer firefighters Allison Floyd and Jesse Wells, both '01, were two of the nearly 100 firefighters at the scene. "During–and right after–the fire, the second-floor dishes hadn't been cleared, and it reminded me of the pictures of the Titanic," Floyd said. "The ones where everything is still in place, but there are no people, and small details are wrong. For the Ingleneuk, these were the dripping ceiling, the burned smell, and the missing wall. It was spooky."
Floyd and Wells were initially going on adrenaline, but both were very awake and clear-headed throughout the fire. "No matter what time the fire horn goes off, once you start running to the call, you don't notice anything but the horn."
Both credit the extensive training of the rest of the crew, including Dan Krausz '02, as the reason no one was injured. "It was a little unnerving to look out a window and see flames licking up from below and beside the sill," Floyd said. "There were flames well above our heads when they sounded the all-out signal," she added.
"On the third floor, there was almost no visibility," Wells remembered. "When the interior attack was over, we worked on the outside. There was a great deal of work to do, and many firefighters from the area assisted us. We worked well together and did a good job, but at 4 a.m., when we went home, I was very tired and happy to see my bed."
In a recent report to the Swarthmore Borough Council, Hansen explained that the Ingleneuk fire was first fought offensively from inside the building because "putting water on a fire from the outside pushes it in to unburnt portions of the building and causes more damage." Bob Jones, the deputy fire chief who decided to pull firefighters out of the building 20 minutes before the roof caved in, moved the fight to a defensive one from the outside; "master streams" surrounding the building prevented the fire from spreading to neighboring homes nestled in close proximity.
After the Ingleneuk blaze, Borough Council member and Swarthmore Rotary Club President Alice "Putty" Putnam Willetts was able to retrieve the bell used to start each of the club's Friday lunchtime meetings at the teahouse for the last 63 years. "We ate there for fellowship," she said of the 50-member local chapter of the service organization. The "saddened" 74-year-old Willetts, who has lived in Swarthmore all her life and went to the Ingleneuk with her family, said, "It's like losing an old friend."
Gudmund Iversen, professor of statistics, director of the Center for Social and Policy Studies, and fellow Rotary Club member, said: "Fifty meetings a year over 63 years is approximately 3,000 meetings! Some of the staff had worked at the Ingleneuk almost as long as the club has met there, and close ties were established between the club members and the staff. Any member who ordered the same lunch several Fridays in a row did not even have to place an order; the staff remembered."
Owner Sally Perrine, who is now dealing with insurance company claims, sounds weary. "I can send you a menu, which describes the restaurant's history," she offered. As she told The Phoenix (March 23), her father has been her "main concern." In The Swarthmorean (March 24), she also said, "I can't tell you how moved I've been with support of the great Swarthmore community and the great Swarthmore Rotary."
The Rotary Club now meets at the Springhaven Club in Wallingford, Pa. and invited Kurtzhalz, Perrine, and some of the Ingleneuk waitresses to join them for a recent lunch meeting. Rotary president Willetts said: "We're talking with Sally about her different options." A liquor license would fortify the Ingleneuk's ability to compete with restaurants on Baltimore Pike–a handicap that had caused a drop in business in recent years, according to Willetts, and was a factor in an unsuccessful attempt to sell the restaurant in the last year. "I know that Sally is looking into getting a liquor license, but it's complicated," she added.
Like others in the community who are working on a revitalization plan for the Ville, Willetts is still hopeful about the revival of the Ingleneuk. Professor Iversen, elected the next Rotary Club president, expressed the sentiments of many by saying: "The club has lost its home of more than 60 years, and the loss is almost like losing parts of one's own house. We eagerly hope we can resume our walks [to the Ingleneuk] instead of having to drive to more faraway places."
Unlike the Strath Haven Inn fire in 1951 that led to its subsequent razing, many in the community hope that the Ingleneuk's rich history and traditions will not disintegrate completely in ashes.
Andrea Juncos '01, publications intern, completed historical research for this article.
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