The old Papamoa Hall has been destroyed after a fire ripped through the iconic building last night.
Police are treating the fire as suspicious because the building had been empty for several years.
Firefighters were called to the blaze about 6.10pm, by which time the hall was already well alight, a witness told the Bay of Plenty Times.
Six fire trucks and water tankers and their crews from Papamoa, Te Puke and Tauranga battled the blaze until late into the night.
A section of State Highway 2 was closed and traffic was diverted along Tara Rd, Parton Rd and Bell Rd.
The cause of the fire was unknown and the blaze was being treated as suspicious at the time the Bay of Plenty Times went to print.
Local resident Craig McNaughton has lived at a farm next to the hall most of his life and was saddened to see it go in such a way.
He and his family were having dinner about 6.15pm when one of his children spotted smoke.
Their power was shut off when flames began hitting the power lines, he said.
"We rushed over there when we saw the smoke.
"Flames were just coming out the window when I was there, it was coming from the middle of the hall towards the southeast side."
He said he was upset the building had been lost in such a manner after raising concerns about it being left empty.
It had been unused for about eight years and all the copper and fuses had been stripped from the building, Mr McNaughton said.
He believed the hall had at least $40,000 worth of native wood with tawa floors and rimu framing.
He guessed the hall had been built in the 1940s or 1950s.
Mr McNaughton said he had been petitioning the Western Bay District Council for years asking it to do something with the building.
"Something could have been done with it before it burned to ashes.
"I've been on their [the council's] case all this time ... no one wanted to know anything about it."
He believed the last tenant to occupy the hall was a church group and, since then, about eight years ago, it had been boarded up because windows were being smashed.
Mr McNaughton remembered playing table tennis in the hall when he was a youngster and had attended functions such as family reunions there.
Acting Mount Maunganui Police Senior Sergeant Phil Gillbanks said the blaze was suspicious because it was a building that had not been used for some years.
"We don't know what the cause of the fire is so at the moment it is being treated as suspicious.
"It is a building that hasn't been used in a number of years.
"The biggest issue is getting water to the scene which is why we have blocked off the road."
Police would investigate the fire alongside the fire safety investigator, Mr Gillbanks said.
The fire had completely destroyed the building by 8pm, a reporter at the scene said.
"The entire building has collapsed and all that remains is the brick facade on its front. The roofing iron, the exposed timer is all just charcoal."
Fire trucks were rushing back and forward trying to get water to the scene, she said.
Flames could be seen from as far as Tara Rd and there was "smoke everywhere".
Tauranga City councillor Steve Morris saw the blaze as he was driving home from Rotorua, about 6.30pm.
"It's just so sad, it's been such an icon for the old Papamoa community," he said. "It's all gone, it's terrible."
The hall had been a big part of the old Papamoa community, when the population of the area was only about 2000 people and it was a hub for people to get together.
Western Bay of Plenty mayor Ross Paterson said he was disappointed the building had been destroyed by fire.
"It did have quite a history earlier in its lifetime, before the State Highway got to its present size.
"It's been there for a long time ... it possibly had a future once the TEL [Tauranga Eastern Link] was finished and it would have been on a local road."
Mr Paterson said he would not comment further on the allegations that were made by Mr McNaughton.
Western Bay of Plenty council communications adviser Peter Hennessey said the hall had been vacant for a number of years and had been a target for minor vandalism in the past.
The council was sad to learn of the blaze and would be working with the fire service this morning to determine the cause, Mr Hennessey said.
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