An iconic hotel in Dawson City, Yukon, was destroyed in a fire on Sunday, months after the venue survived a flood.
The Westminster Hotel (a.k.a. The Pit), which dates back to the Gold Rush of the late 1800s, was a community landmark. The fire razed it to the ground.
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‘Sad day’
“Today is a sad day for Dawson City,” Yukon Magazine posted on Facebook , with footage of the tavern going up in flames.
Dawson City Mayor Stephen Johnson said in a Facebook post on Sunday that the community is devastated at the loss of the building.
“It’s hard to put into words what this place has meant to our town. The Westminster wasn’t just a bar or a hotel. It was a gathering place, a landmark of stories, a home for music, laughter, friendship, and the kind of memories that only Dawson can make,” he said.
“For generations, people have walked through those doors and found community. Some of us worked there. Some of us celebrated there. Some of us filmed there. All of us felt at home there. Losing it feels personal because it is personal.
“Today, we hold space for the owners, the staff, the musicians, the regulars, and everyone who loved that old building. We’re grateful that no lives were lost, and we’re thinking of the firefighters and first responders who worked through the morning to keep our community safe.”
January flood
The hotel with the pink exterior dated back to 1898 and was a gathering spot for the community. The bar in the hotel was damaged earlier in January when a water main broke during a cold snap, flooding the building and the street outside. The hotel was flooded with a metre of water, and a staffer told CBC that it took eight days for workers to shut the water off after the hotel flooded. Extensive renovations were done to fix the damage.