The ruined home of an elderly man who died in a fire in Caithness could be demolished.
Planning permission is being sought to demolish St Clair House in Scarfskerry.
The house was the home of 95-year-old John Mehlert, who died when the property was devastated by fire in December last year.
Mr Mehlert, a former teacher and wartime mechanic, had lived in the remote settlement on the north coast since the early 1980s.
Permission to demolish the badly damaged house is being sought by Wick construction firm GMR Henderson Builders Ltd.
The croft house was so badly damaged by the fire that emergency services were unable to enter for several days.
The planning application says that the entire building will be demolished, including removing its foundations.
Mr Mehlert served in the Royal Navy during World War II in Chatham Barracks and Lowestoft as a motor mechanic working on ship engines.
After the war he began working as a mechanic before taking a job at the Michelin factory in Stoke-on-Trent in the early 1960s.
He became a teacher after landing a role teaching apprentices.
He spent the rest of his career in teaching, first in metal work and then science.
By the early 80s, Mr Mehlert was looking for places to retire to and chose Scarfskerry after considering moves to Caithness and Orkney.
In 2001 Mr Mehlert was left a widower with the death of his wife Iva.
Just days after the fire, one of his daughters Penny Algie revealed she had spoken to her father just hours before the fire.
She said: “He sounded very chipper and upbeat. He said he’d just seen a beautiful sunset.”
Neighbour Jack Hornell described Mr Mehlert as a “grand old man” and his home as being like “stepping back to the 1940s”.
He added: “I would describe him as being an eccentric, well-educated sort of man.
“He knew a lot about everything. We used to call him the professor because he knew so much.”
