Fire destroys pub in historic schoolhouse
Snow, ice hamper crews battling early morning blaze
Charred tables lay collapsed on the floor as daylight streamed between icy beams that used to support the roof of the Cheshire Cat Pub.
The old- school-house-turned-country-pub in west Ottawa was destroyed in an early morning fire Monday, but the owner has a message for its loyal patrons who saw an image of the aftermath on Facebook.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be back,” Dustin Therrien wrote hours after the fire.
Nearly 100 comments followed — expressing shock, sadness and, most of all, support to help rebuild the beloved pub at the corner of Richardson Side and Carp roads.
The heritage building appears beyond repair — damage is estimated at $700,000 — but faithful customers maintained positive outlooks despite news of the loss. No one was injured.
“There are a great number of us who feel an emptiness over the loss of ‘our’ pub,” Wilma Chapman told the Citizen. “But we are also thankful that all the people who are the heart of the place are safe, and I have no doubt we will be meeting them again — at a rebuilt Cheshire Cat Pub.”
Chapman said the pub was bustling Sunday evening when she left after participating in a trivia event.
“It’s unreal,” she said of the fire.
The pub’s fire alarm went off around 4:30 a.m. Neighbours called 911 to report smoke pouring out of the steel roof at 2193 Richardson Side Rd.
Firefighters doused the flames during a snowstorm, being careful to avoid ice patches on the ground around the building. Freezing temperatures combined with blasts from the water guns made for a slippery job, said fire spokesman Marc Messier.
Therrien refused to comment as he watched crews work. He woke up Monday to a call from his alarm company. He called to check in with all of his employees at home to ensure they were safe.
By 6 a.m., police had closed Richardson Side Road from Carp to Huntmar roads while as many as 15 trucks and 45 firefighters worked to tame the flames.
Crews initially tried to save parts of the structure, but Messier said it became evident within 10 minutes that they had to abandon that effort to focus on containing the blaze.
Firefighters pulled down the burning bell tower of the old schoolhouse because they feared it would fall.
A log school house originally built on the site in 1820 was called Mulligan’s School. A stone building was erected in 1883. In 1957, the school was taken over by several families and it eventually became a restaurant in the 1990s.
A kitchen fire caused $40,000 in damages at the restaurant in 2000. That blaze was caused when grease in an unattended fryer overheated and ignited.
The cause of the latest fire is unknown, Messier said. It comes on the anniversary of another major fire in Carp.
On Jan. 28, 2012, fire broke out on the second floor of the Agricultural Hall at the Carp Fairground and quickly burned through the roof. It didn’t destroy the whole building, however.
As did the blaze at the Cheshire Cat, the fire a year ago broke out about 4 a.m.
“I live nearby and we love that place. We were really sad to hear the news of the fire,” wrote Melissa Massé.
“The Cheshire Cat is a real community restaurant, and we don’t have many of those out here in Carp. It is a family run restaurant and is always crazy busy. The food is awesome, and they do have live music and other special events,” she said.
She noted that there have also been fires at the West Carleton Meeting Centre banquet hall and at the Thunderbird Sports Dome in the last two years.
“Seriously, how many fires can a … small rural community have?”
Const. Marc Soucy of the Ottawa police said it was too early to say whether the fire was suspicious.