A CRUMBLING landmark building in Hull's Fruit Market area is set be demolished because it is considered to be a danger to the public.
Derelict Wellington House stands on the corner of Wellington Street and Queens Street and within a few yards of the Humber Street cultural quarter.
The empty Victorian era property had recently been earmarked for conversion into flats under a Government-funded scheme aimed at bringing long-standing vacant buildings back into residential use.
But subsequent surveys of the property found it was at imminent risk of collapse.
Now, demolition contractors are set to reduce the building to rubble as a safety measure.
Hull City Council, which has acquired a number of properties in the Fruit Market area ahead of a major planned redevelopment scheme, said it had been left with little option but to flatten Wellington House.
In a statement, the authority said: "As part of the wider Fruit Market regeneration, Hull City Council has become aware that Wellington House is structurally unsound.
"Immediate action has been taken to ensure public safety.
"A number of options were considered for the future of the building. However, following several surveys, including one from English Heritage, the only option is to progress with demolition of the building.
"Where possible, arrangements will be made to reclaim and preserve the heritage of the building although public safety remains paramount."
Work on demolishing the building is expected to start in earnest next week.
Planning committee chairman Councillor Sean Chaytor said: "While we are very keen to reuse as many of the old buildings in the Fruit Market area as possible, the safety of the public has to be our number one priority.
"From what I have been told, the place was literally being held together with a few pieces of wood."
Previously used as flats, the building is thought to have originally been a hotel.
Records suggest the site was first occupied by a circus and then a theatre after Wellington Street was first laid out in 1813 along with nearby Pier Street and Nelson Street.
The whole area was originally developed from land reclaimed from the Humber.
The demolition of Wellington House will follow recent clearance work involving a number of low-rise warehouses in Wellington Street.
Their removal allowed for the refurbishment of an old meat-smoking house, which is currently being marketed for rent.
The wider Fruit Market area is earmarked for a major facelift over the next few years after a joint venture between Hull developers Wykeland and housebuilder Beal Homes was awarded preferred developer status for the scheme by the city council.
The joint venture company's initial masterplan for the area released late last year showed proposals for up to 110 new homes in a series of courtyard-style developments, new commercial and retail units and the refurbishment of a number of former wholesale fruit warehouses.
The developers are also required to include plans for a major new international art gallery on currently vacant land between Humber Street and Castle Street.
Detailed proposals for the development are expected to be submitted for planning approval over the next 12 months.
The urgent demolition of Wellington House will be in marked contrast to previous plans to bulldoze two nearby properties in the Fruit Market.
Last December, planning councillors rejected applications by their own regeneration team to demolish two empty single-storey warehouses in Humber Street and Wellington Street.
In both cases, council officers had argued that demolition was necessary to open up access to nearby land and buildings as part of long-term facelift proposals for the area.
Instead, councillors claimed that giving their own authority the go-ahead to bulldoze buildings in a conservation area without having definitive plans for the cleared sites would set a dangerous precedent.
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