Council bosses have began demolishing an historic building at the home of a Victorian industrialist hailed as a hero in Japan.
The Bridge of Don home of Thomas Blake Glover was formally a museum honouring the man widely credited with helping to kick-start the land of the rising sun’s industrial revolution and being instrumental in the founding of Mitsubishi.
Workmen have already started to pull down the dilapidated outbuilding due to its condition and have submitted an application for retrospective planning permission.
The plan would also involve carrying out work to boundary walls.
The property is owned by the local authority who have been looking for a new purpose for the site on Balgownie Road since it closed as a museum in 2012.
Thomas Blake Glover was born in Fraserburgh in 1838 before moving to Aberdeen.
His Aberdeen home was bought by Mitsubishi in 1996 and was later given to the Grampian-Japan Trust as the prelude to being converted into a museum.
The council have since taken ownership.
Around £300,000 has been spent on making it wind and watertight to prevent further damage.
In 2017, plans were unveiled to potentially transform the home into a place to house Japanese tourists as part of an international exchange programme.
However the scheme has stalled.
