30 Years Later, Burning Of Historic ‘P’ House Still A Mystery

By John Burton
SEA BRIGHT – Those who remember the burning of the historic Peninsula Hotel three decades ago believe that loss marked the end of an era.
The onetime resort hotel that had survived for about a century was lost to a suspicious fire on Oct. 9, 1986, destroying a historic landmark that still conjures memories.
“It meant a lot to a lot of people,” recalled Gary Germain, who worked there at the time, with the 30th anniversary approaching. For Germain, the hotel held its own memories: in addition to being an employee, his wedding was held in the location’s banquet hall.
“It was where we grew up,” for many of his generation, remembered C. Read Murphy of the “P-House” as it was affectionately called by regulars. Murphy, a former borough councilman and a volunteer fireman who was on-site the night of the fire. As a teen his family had been members of the location’s beach club, where Murphy said lifelong friendships were formed. “They were like family,” he said.
The large wood-framed building dated back to circa 1881, originally built on the west side of Ocean Avenue (which is now also state Highway 36) by owner Paul Mifflin. According to Monmouth County Historian Randall Gabrielan, Mifflin moved the multistory hotel across the street in the winter 1884-85, to the Ocean Avenue/Peninsula Avenue corner, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. “It was the largest building moved in Monmouth County,” up to that point, Gabrielan said.

In its prime, the hotel was a premiere location for the Jersey Shore of the late 18th and 19th century, a time when there were a number of exclusive resorts in the area. “The Peninsula House was a major hotel facility for a very long time,” Gabrielan said.

The 1986 fire was deemed “suspicious” in nature by then-Fire Chief David H. Estelle, with the investigation at the time the responsibility of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the county fire marshal.
According to Germain and Murphy, the fire started deep in the interior of the building’s northeast corner. “It was a helluva fire,” Murphy said, recalling “it had flames going probably a hundred or more feet,” when he arrived shortly after the alarm was called.
“There was tons of smoke,” Germain said, thinking back the 30 years about how, in fairly short order, “it had just collapsed upon itself,” as “it burned from the inside out.”
Sea Bright Police Chief John Sorrentino, along with his family, had been a member of the beach club growing up. As a young police dispatcher at the time he was on duty when the call came in, and remembers watching the blaze from police headquarters just a short distance away. “Man, that thing went up,” he said, telling how these many years ago the burning embers were dropping on Ocean Avenue.

While investigators questioned some people of interest, no one was ever charged with the fire, both Germain and Murphy remembered.
At this point, “You’ll never find out who did it,” Murphy suspected.
Before the fire, however, in the mid-1980s, when owned by the investor group Yacenda Enterprises, the hotel was still a place to be, with about five separate rooms, including a beach bar; a piano room called the Carousel Room; the upstairs Saul T. Waters room, which featured bands and comedy acts; and restaurant seating, said Germain, who at the time was working as general manager for Yacenda Enterprises, overseeing this and other restaurants the group owned.