A historic structure with a storied past went up in flames early Sunday morning.

In the 1930s then Gov. Richard Leche, one of famed Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long’s camp, started to build a golf course for the politically elite at the site that is now the Northlake Nature Center on Bayou Castine in Mandeville.

However, Leche’s administration was permeated with corruption and he ended up in prison during what has since been dubbed the “Louisiana scandals.”

An unfinished clubhouse for a golf course that former Gov. Richard Leche attempted to build on what is now the Northlake Nature Center caught fire and burned early Sunday morning. (Photo Courtesy of Fire District 4)

The golf course and its partially built clubhouse were left unfinished and when World War II broke out the project was forgotten and what was started was abandoned.

The area returned to its natural state and the unfinished clubhouse was left in ruins.

The Northlake Nature Center has since acquired the property and recently has begun efforts to preserve what is left of the clubhouse building.

“It was essentially left abandoned,” Larry Burch, Northlake Nature Center president said of the clubhouse structure. “As best we can tell it was never finished.”

Most of the work done to the building has been in effort to preserve it, clean up around it and stabilize the structure itself.

The building, which was partially roofed when construction was halted, has been being used as storage space to house construction materials being used for other projects at the center.

At approximately 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning Fire District 4 was dispatched to a fire at the center.

When personnel arrived on scene they found the clubhouse engulfed in flames.

Chief Rick Tassin said the flames could be seen from U.S. Highway190 and smoke from the blaze reached Girod Street.

“First units arrived on the scene to find flames showing through the roof of the structure and into the trees,” Tassin said.

Because the structure was deep into the heavily wooded nature center, firefighters had to deploy 600 feet of 5-inch hose to hold back the flames and prevent the fire from spreading through the woods.

Water had to be shuttled in with the assistance of a 3,000-gallon water tanker provided by St. Tammany Fire District 3. It took 45 minutes to lay down water lines and control the fire.

Tassin said at the time of the fire, the structure was full of treated decking and lumber being used to repair the boardwalks at the center.

Burch said much of the actual structure was brick and therefore was salvaged.

“For the most part there was very little damage to the building itself,” he said.

He applauded the fire department’s ability in keeping the fire from spreading, saying only a few trees were scorched.

The cause of the fire is unknown, and the state fire marshal’s office is investigating it.

Tassin said the state fire marshal brought an arson detection dog to the site Monday to sniff the area but no determination had been made as of Tuesday.

Burch said the center remains open, and planned events at the Northlake Nature Center, including the Louisiana Bird Fest in April, will go on as planned.

He said when the fire marshal’s office is finished its investigation, the Northlake Nature Center Board will begin assessing the situation and decide at that time how best to secure the structure and where to go from there.