Investigators are working to determine the cause of an overnight fire that destroyed a multi-million-dollar home in Vancouver’s upscale Shaughnessy neighborhood.

The blaze broke out at around 2:40 a.m. Sunday in the 3700 block of Angus Drive, in the area of West King Edward Avenue and Granville Street.

Flames could be seen shooting through the home’s roof. The fire was quickly upgraded to a third alarm after crews arrived.

About 45 firefighters were on scene battling the blaze.

“We had difficulty putting the fire out because it appeared that it was quite involved by the time crews had arrived,” fire Capt. Van Horn said.

Van Horn called the blaze “suspicious,” citing the amount of damage the structure had received before crews arrived and how difficult it was to put out the fire, which he said appears to have originated from multiple areas of the home.

Built in 1913, this five-bedroom, 9,790-square-foot property was last listed in 2012 for about $14 million.

Neighbours said the home has been vacant since.

“The house has been empty…for probably the past four or five years,” said nearby resident John Wark.

In 2016, he added, people would attend loud, all-night rock concerts at the property.

“The original owners kept it immaculate and the house has been left to rack and ruin,” Wark said.

And the mansion is far from being the only vacant one in the upscale neighbourhood.

“The neighbourhood is plagued with empty homes,” said Robert Garden, another neighbour. “A lot of them are owned by very wealthy people who live in, mainly, mainland China.”

Firefighters believe the home was empty before the fire started, but Van Horn said they are unable to confirm those details until crews can get inside.

On Sunday afternoon, crews were still working to extinguish hotspots around the property.

With files from CTV Vancouver’s Breanna Karstens-Smith