More than two years after devastating fire, Portuguese Club of Hartford on track to rebuild clubhouse

More than two years after a fire devastated its Newington clubhouse, the Portuguese Club of Hartford is trying to reach its $730,000 fundraising goal and hopes to see a newly renovated building open in the coming year.

“Our first instinct was, ‘We’re going to rebuild.’ There was never any doubt that we would follow through,” said Alberto Costa, the club president.

On Dec. 23, 2017, a fire raced through the club’s longtime building at 730 North Mountain Road, resulting in significant damage to its interior. As firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control, hundreds of people arrived to watch the effort, members remembered.

“So many weddings, baptisms, first communions had happened there. That’s what made it emotional,” said Jeffrey Portal, the club’s operations director. “The club was almost like a second home for people.”

A half-dozen club members who were inside at the time of the fire escaped without injury, though a firefighter suffered an ankle injury. State investigators were ultimately unable to determine what caused the fire, members said.

The fire left the club, which was founded in 1927 and has about 450 members, without a home and launched the organization into a lengthy process of cleaning up the site and raising money for renovations. While the clubhouse sits vacant, members have continued to hold events at local restaurants and rental halls. The Newington Fire Department even let members use its firehouse to watch soccer games, Portal said.

The cost of the renovations is projected to be about $2.4 million, Portal said. The proceeds from the building’s fire insurance covered a large part of that figure, but the club still had to come up with about $730,000. The club has raised about $300,000 so far. Now, members are working to raise about $400,000 more to finish the project.

The goal was to hit $730,000 by the end of February, though fundraising may continue through the spring and summer, said Jason Cordeiro, a club member who is spearheading the “730Kampaign” fundraising effort.

Costa said the renovations aim to make the club more accessible and up to code -- but also to make the 1970s-era building “a little bit more luxurious.”

Parts of the building were structurally compromised by the fire, though most of the exterior walls were salvageable. Most of the main floor needs to be replaced and other features will be added, including larger restrooms, a sprinkler system, an elevator shaft, and traditional-style Portuguese tile and stonework in the bar and cafe area. A main banquet hall will be available for large functions organized by the club or outside organizations.

“The members really wanted a more traditional Portuguese, Southern European feel in the lower level,” Portal said.

The club is working with the Farmington-based architecture firm Quisenberry Arcari Malik and is in the process of finding a general contractor. Cordeiro said that the club hopes to break ground on the renovation this spring and expects the construction to take 10 months.

“We’re still optimistic that we’re going to be able to finish the rebuild by the year’s end," Costa said. “We’re going to try because it’s been a while -- two years, two months -- since the club burned down.”

Portal, 30, of Rocky Hill, has been a member since he was born -- and his great-grandparents were members when they emigrated to the area in the 1940s. Through the club, “the Portuguese community really just becomes an extension of your family," he said.

Connecticut has roughly 50,000 Portuguese-Americans, said Portal, who estimated that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 in the Greater Hartford area.

The Portuguese Club of Hartford has a traditional Portuguese music and dance program, Rancho Folclu00f3rico do Clube Portuguu00eas de Hartford, which performs annually at the Day of Portugal celebrations in the summer in Hartford. It also fields a number of soccer teams and offers scholarships for community members.

“Back in the day it was a place you could go to speak Portuguese,” Portal said of the club. “Now, it’s more about getting together to watch the EuroCup.”

He said that those community gatherings help members of the Portuguese community in the area maintain close social ties and pass on their cultural heritage to younger generations.

“Our community is very unified,” Costa said. “If someone is in distress, we’re very good at helping each other.”

This Sunday, members and local leaders are invited to gather at the Primavera Pub in Hartford to hear from board members about the effort to rebuild the club.

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