Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.

Staying Connected · Preserving Our Past

Home

COVID INFO

About Us

Hamden Local 2687

Hamden Historical Society

Hamden C.E.R.T.

C.E.R.T.

Calendars

Civil Defense

CT Apparatus Database

Hamden Then & Now

H.G.S.R.A.

Mountain Rescue Team

Off Duty Time

Parades

Public Education

Rosters

Sparking Out

Special Events

Training

Videos

We Remember

Web Links

1995 World Games

ALL PAST UPDATES

ALUMNI

APPARATUS

ARCHIVED ARTICLES

COMMUNICATIONS / DISPATCH

FIRE STATIONS

FIREFIGHTING

HFRA PHOTOS

HISTORICAL NOTES

MEMBERS ONLY

Whitney and Dixwell
Tuesday, February 18, 1941

The news articles on this page were donated by G. Donald Steele

$15,000 was the estimated loss when fire gutted the 111-year old Malavolti building at the corner of Whitney and Dixwell Avenues on the night of February 18, 1941. The fire in the two-and-a-half story combination commercial-residential wood frame building was believed to have started when faulty electrical wiring led to an exploding gas meter.
 
Ten residents of the second floor apartments escaped without injuries.  Hamden firefighters worked through the night to contain the blaze to the building of origin.  The Hamden branch of the American Red Cross assisted the ten individuals who were displaced by the fire.

The building was condemned and razed, leaving a vacant lot on which local kids played softball until the Malavolti family built the Brown Stone House Restaurant on the site in 1949.  We are grateful to G. Donald Steele for the newspaper articles and photos that are posted below.
Posted 2/20/11

© 1941 - New Haven Evening Register
© 1941 - New Haven Journal-Courier
© 1941 - New Haven Journal-Courier
© 1941 - New Haven Journal-Courier
Courtesy of the Hamden Historical Society
Centerville House
 
What was to later become known as the Malavolti Building, started out as a hotel in the early 19th century. The former Centerville House, also known as the Sackett Hotel, fronted on Dixwell Avenue at the intersection of Whitney Avenue.
 
According to an article puiblished years ago in The Hamden Chronicle, the hotel was built in 1830 and also had a popular tavern. The wrap-around veranda disappeared sometime before it became a multiple commercial building in the early 20th century.
 

 
Added to this page 5/25/14

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

Unless otherwise cited or in the Public Domain,
all material on this website, including all original photos, essays, articles and commentary published herein, are Copyright © 2009-2021 by the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc., and may not be copied or republished in whole or in part without prior written permission of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.

Official website of the Hamden Fire Retirees Association, Inc.

Website powered by Network Solutions®