An electrical fault was blamed for a fire which gutted the Como Hotel in 1996.
Residents watched helplessly from Scylla Bay Oval as flames enveloped the historic building in the early hours of Sunday, November 3.
Two women, including the manager, and a boy, 5, had to be rescued.
The blaze was believed to have started on the restaurant level and spread quickly through the old building.
The hotel was rebuilt five years later with the original brickwork and facades.
A badly burnt door that can be found in the restaurant today is evidence of the intense heat.
The hotel was built in 1878 as a club for German immigrants working on the Illawarra railway line.
When work in the area was completed, the men moved on to Heathcote, and the building was empty for several years until it was taken over as a hotel in 1890.
Its clientele included regular drinkers who rowed up Scylla Bay, holidaymakers and lovers.
Poet Henry Lawson, who lived at Como in the 1900s, was among locals who drank at the pub.
In 1977, the hotel became the first building in Sutherland Shire to be placed on a new national heritage list.
The Register of the National Estate was established under a 1975 Act of Parliament, enabling the Australian Heritage Commission to list places of natural, indigenous and historic significance.
No alterations could be made to these buildings without the approval of the commission, which later became the Australian Heritage Council.
The hotel has changed hands several times and residents have had continuing concern about possible redevelopment and subdivision of the site.
The present owner, the family owned Oscars Group purchased the hotel for $5.6 million in late 2016.
An Oscars Group spokesman told the Leader at the time residents need not fear.
“We love the pub and the area, and we will continue to run it as it is and support the community,” he said.
“There will be no redevelopment.”
