SCARBOROUGH’S Londesborough Lodge is featured in a national report on Britain’s “buildings at risk”.
The report, by campaign group SAVE Britain’s Heritage, recognises the Grade II building as one of the UK’s finest early Victorian seaside villas.
Londesborough Lodge, in The Crescent, was in was built in the 1830s and was enlarged by the Earl of Londesborough in 1853.
It was visited three times by the future King Edward VII between 1869 and 1871, and was later used as Scarborough Council’s tourism and leisure department, then as a headquarters for Yorkshire Coast Homes.
It has stood empty since both Scarborough Museums Trust and Radio York moved out so that the lease could be sold.
The council made the empty building available for development in 2009, but there have been no takers and the building has been targeted by vandals.
A steering group to examine its future was set up late last year.
The group is exploring alternatives to selling the publicly owned building to private developers.
SAVE says it hopes a solution will be found soon, especially as the building is beginning to deteriorate.
The Yorkshire and Humber Association of Civil Societies would like to see the Lodge restored as a gem in Scarborough’s cultural quarter.
Cllr Colin Challen has previously called for a “Plan B” to be employed which would see Londesborough Lodge remain in public ownership and come back into use.
He added that the building could thrive as a cultural or artistic venue.
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