And, as we mark the destruction of the once elegant townhouse and must consider that the destruction of the distinctive century-old home and the many others like it are now as inevitable as the passage of time. Cherisse Halsall reports.

As captured from a neighbour's window, on Saturday morning at the Eusey home at the corner or Regent and South Streets was like a house of matchsticks

The building that is estimated to have stood for more than a century maybe as many as two centuries, was reduced to rubble and ash in less than an hour

No one was hurt because the home had been abandoned for months now. When we visited earlier this month we saw that it was in a total state of ruin

And while the only loss is historical, its neighbor the Salvation Army did suffer structural damage

Maj Johnathan Kellerman, District Commander, Salvation Army
"About 1;30 in the morning I got a call. I had actually just left here at 12:30 and I was a bit surprised. Came back over here and this building was practically on the ground. It was fast and furious as they say."

"And because of the wind, the flames carried over to our building and scorched it. I think it was reportedly the fifth attempt, from the beginning of the year. There have been some attempts on the weekend to try to burn this house."

"As neighbours we were all trying to be on the lookout."

It's a shell of its former self that has been in disrepair for over a decade. We were covering it in 2010 when the then City council was tearing it down and they did...at least a part...

But somehow the house remained and survived three recent hurricanes Richard, Earl, and Lisa.

But while it withstood being rocked by the winds, the old wood from virgin forests long flattened couldn't survive a fire.

Now, the only thing remaining are those famous bricks from the colonial area which history says came as ballast on merchant ships.

Area Rep Tracy Taegar Panton had been a part of the UDP's efforts to save the house but it seems that this house's then stewards resisted all best-laid plans.

Tracy Taegar Panton, Area-Rep, Albert
"When we spoke to the family they opted not to be engaged in that program and so the building continued to deteriorate, I noticed, or I head it was sold and we had noted just before leaving the country that there were, had started to dismantle the building. The roof had been taken down, that kind of thing, so it is unfortunate that there was a fire before it could be completely dismantled."

For years no one has been able to save it despite many earnest efforts, and that is perhaps one of the greatest riddles of the remnants of the colonial era of Belize City:

These colonial structures are part of the historical record, but at the end of the day they are privately owned. How can you publicly preserve privately owned properties? They need to be preserved for posterity but by what means? The levelling of this storied structure didn't answer any of those questions - and it's just further proof of how impossible it is to preserve structures created for a world that no longer exists.

The Fire Department could not be reached to discuss what caused the fire.