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The development of remotely controlled nanoscopic sources of heat is essential for investigating and manipulating temperature sensitive processes at the nanoscale. Here, we use single gold nanoparticles to rapidly deposit controlled amounts of heat in nanoscopic regions of defined size. This allows us to induce and control nanoscale reversible gel-fluid phase transitions in phospholipid membranes. We exploit the optical control over the phase transition to determine the velocity of the fluid phase front into the gel phase membrane and to guide the nanoparticles to specific locations. These results illustrate how single gold nanoparticles enable local thermodynamic investigation and manipulation on nanoscale (bio-) systems.