The former Beneficiaries Hall, at the corner of Filleul and Hanover Sts, has been demolished to make way for planned student accommodation.
It has played host to several stalwarts of New Zealand music over the years, including Split Enz, The Clean and The Enemy.
Robert Scott, of The Clean and The Bats fame, said The Clean played one of their first major public shows at Beneficiaries Hall in the late 1970s.
"It's pretty much the birthplace of early Dunedin Sound, for The Enemy and The Clean, and, as such, it should [have been] preserved.
"It’s just sad that it's come to that point where something like that is being pulled down, when it's such an iconic spot for those early famous concerts."
Beneficiaries Hall was one of the few places bands like The Enemy and The Clean had been able to play, as they could not play in the pubs, Scott said.
It was a place where bands could put on their own show and do it the way they wanted to.
"It was a very exciting place. I went and saw The Enemy there.
"Just the sense of anticipation, excitement and possibility was the main thing I remember."
While there would be some sadness within the city’s music community, people were also realistic and understood buildings could not always be preserved "just because some concerts happened there", Scott said.
The site was most recently home to wine bar and venue The Cellar. The wine manager last month said they had plans to move into the former Dog With Two Tails and Rewind premises in Moray Pl.
Save Dunedin Live Music spokesman David Bennett said he was not only saddened by the demolition, but also that The Cellar had not been able to get fully established and make something of itself in the location.
"It's not only a loss to music heritage in Dunedin, but a loss to the contemporary music scene as well — at least for the time being."
"It was really important to those early Dunedin bands that really shaped the Dunedin Sound.
"It is a shame to see us lose another piece of our history."
The former Beneficiaries Hall is not the only historic Dunedin music venue to be demolished in recent memory.
The Oriental Tavern, later known as the Ori and Starters Bar, was demolished in North Dunedin in April last year.
Starters Bar closed in 2021 after the building was deemed a seismic risk.
Mr Bennett said it was unlikely historic venues would be replaced with new homes for music.
Residential and commercial development normally went up in their stead.
That meant the spaces where music could exist in Dunedin were "dwindling", he said.
"We really do need to do a lot better at protecting the places where music can exist and thrive in the city — before we lose all of it."
Resource consent was granted to Otherplaces to construct a three-storey commercial and residential building at the site.
The development, dubbed "Hanover Place", was designed with students in mind and is described on the company’s website as providing an "alternative to traditional student accommodation".
It would comprise 16 studio apartments, supported by shared facilities on the ground floor, available for lease from January next year.
Otherplaces director Dylan Cazemier yesterday declined to comment on the demolition.
