Questions have been asked about the future of a Yarmouth landmark, which was built as a home for shipwrecked mariners.
Former Yarmouth MP Tony Wright raised the uncertain status of the town’s Maritime House at a borough council meeting.
The building, designed in the Italianate style and dating from 1859, stands on the town’s Marine Parade.
Until 2002, it had housed the Maritime Museum for East Anglia, and in more recent years had served as a tourist information centre, until that too closed.
Mr Wright, a Labour member of the borough’s policy and resources committee, pointed out that the closed building is currently costing the authority some £42,769 per year in maintenance and other costs.
He said: “The closure of a building which was being used by the tourist industry just seems to be a false economy, especially since it’s costing £42k a year to keep closed.”
The council’s Conservative leader Carl Smith replied: “I think we’ll be looking at everything, when we do the budget-setting [next year], in terms of what will happen to that building.
“It’s been brought up many times before - what actually do we do with that building?
“Whether it’s sold or whatever, but obviously anything that’s costing us money will be looked at, and how we can make savings anywhere - which is going to be crucial moving forward, especially in the next few months.”
One particular example of its former use was after a violent gale on October 25, 1859 when 30 shipwrecked seamen lodged there.
It closed as a sailors' refuge in 1965, with the Maritime Museum for East Anglia established there in 1967.
Until its 2022 closure, the building housed a large collection of objects, documents and models relating to regional maritime trades from dredging to fishing to long-haul trading.
In 2015, the council was preparing to sell or rent the building - but at least currently, the authority is still the freeholder.
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