However, the redevelopment of large Victorian properties into flats in nearby Kelvin Grove cost around £126,000 per apartment, or £378,000 for all six units.

Jonathan Brown, of the Liverpool Civic Society, said: “The council’sŠhyper-inflated refurbishment costs are pure fantasy, cooked up without any proper specification, to make demolition look like the only option. Very high quality ‘eco retro-fit’ refurbishment is possible for a fraction of the £150,000 claimed. Clearance is a crude, insensitive and highly expensive process, only possible with obscene amounts of subsidy.”

John Chambers, of the Beatles Society, said if the house were demolished, “then the original bricks which can be verified as authentic should be sold off and the proceeds go to local charities, while some parts of the house should be kept to go in the Liverpool Museum of Life”.

Mr Chambers added that Cllr Anderson had sent him a letter saying council officers are now looking at his proposal.

A council spokesman added: “A number of bricks have been removed from around the window frames of nine Madryn Street, presumably by souvenir hunters.

“If more bricks were removed, this could present a danger to passers-by, so the council obtained the permission of the property’s owners, Merseytravel, to add extra metal sheeting to the house.

“The proposed method of demolition of the house and the after-use of the site will be considered by the planning committee shortly.”