Fire tears through Thunder Bay’s iconic Finnish Temple of Labour

A fire ripped through an iconic Thunder Bay building Wednesday.

The Finnish Temple of Labour, which also hosts the famous Hoito restaurant, caught fire in the evening. The building was undergoing renovations.

The fire appeared to begin in the upper section of the building, according to TBNewswatch.com. The Hoito is in the building’s basement.

The building has been under a different kind of fire over the past several years — the restaurant was forced to close during the pandemic and the building was sold to developers last year, as the owner, the Finlandia Association, was deeply in debt. The board voted to dissolve and sell the building.

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The Hoito was planning to reopen next year.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire, which was still smouldering Thursday morning. Global News has reached out to the Thunder Bay Fire Department for comment.