Crystal Lake Banquet Hall Destroyed By Blaze

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL —A banquet hall that recently announced it'd be closing its doors was destroyed by a fire early Saturday.

The Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department responded to D'Andrea Banquets and Conference Center at about 1:20 a.m. for a report of smoke coming from the building, according to a news release from the fire department. Firefighters first at the scene tried to get into the building, which was unoccupied at the time, but needed to retreat since the roof was about to collapse.

• D'Andrea Banquets To Close At End Of February

Firefighters fought the blaze from outside the building, but the fire quickly spread through multiple areas of the wood-framed building, according to a news release. Several ladder trucks were stationed around the perimeter of the building to control the fire, and the blaze was declared under control at 5:12 a.m., about four hours after it was initially reported.

There was no fire sprinkler system inside the building, no one was injured, and the building is considered a total loss, according to fire officials.

The owners of the building are working with fire investigators, fire officials said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department and fire investigators with the Crystal Lake Police Department.

Due to the collapse of portions of the roof, it will be some time before a cause can be determined, fire officials said.

The economy and staffing issues led to the decision to close, D'Andrea Banquets office manager Pam Kirnbauer told Patch in January. The massive conference center at 4419 Northwest Highway suffered a financial loss due to the coronavirus pandemic, and also has not been able to find enough employees to continue running the banquet hall, Kirnbauer said.

D'Andrea has been in business for more than 35 years, according to its website. All weddings and events scheduled at the convention center after the closure have been cancelled, and all deposits made for the gatherings were returned to customers, Kirnbauer said in January.

The venue hosted hundreds of weddings and events over the years, and had rooms for gatherings as small as 25 people and larger rooms that could fit up to 500.

This is a developing story. Check back to Patch.com for more updates.