One of the oldest buildings on the South Island's West Coast, built at the height of the gold rush, has been gutted by a fire overnight.
The 150-year-old Ross Hospital, which has lain derelict for many years, suffered major damage in the early morning blaze.
Police are today trying to work out whether it was deliberately lit.
The Historic Places Trust listed property, which has also been a Masonic Lodge, is located in the old mining town of Ross - 27kms south-west of Hokitika.
The hospital is believed to have been built in 1866.
It closed as a hospital around a century ago.
The previous owner Peter Doward occupied the building with two goats, until he went into care in Greymouth last year.
In December, the Grey Star reported the building had been bought by the town's former policeman, Jason Martin.
They had planned to redevelop it for a family home.
New Zealand's heaviest ever gold nugget was discovered in Ross in 1909 by 'Messrs Scott and Sharpe'.
The "Honourable Roddy Nugget" was said to be "as big as a man's fist" and weighed 99 ounces (3.09 kg).
The nugget was bought for £400 (equivalent to around $65,000 in today's money) by a Ross storekeeper and his Canterbury associate.
In 1911, it was purchased by the New Zealand government who decided it would make a "decidedly handsome" coronation gift for King George V.
- Kurt Bayer of NZME. News Service
