I am guessing at the year 1880. It certainly is not much later, the Bon Marche building (with a flag on top) was built in 1878 and still looks quite new. On the right is St Peter’s Church, which was dismissed by architectural critics as being a poor copy of the school of Christopher Wren. Consecrated in 1704, it was sold by the diocese (to Woolworths) to fund the building of the Anglican Cathedral. The church was demolished in 1922 and the site is now occupied by the Top Shop store.
The main focus of interest is the building on the left, what is now Marks & Spencers. When I was working with Quentin Hughes on Liverpool City of Architecture, we had numerous discussions about which significant buildings to include (for either architectural or historical reasons). For some reason, this building was left out although it was possibly the first purpose-built department store in the world (pre-dating Bon Marche in Paris by five years). Completed in 1867 for JR Jeffrey, the store faced a losing battle to pay off the cost of building it and, in 1871, it closed its shutters. Sadly, the strain was too much for Jeffrey, who died a few months after the faiure. The store reopened as the Compton Hotel with retailing on the ground floor. In the world of retailing, this is a hugely significant building and, when I complete my revision of City of Architecture it will get the recognition it deserves.
Church Street 1880
- February 3rd, 2010
- Posted in City Centre, Commercial Buildings, Uncategorized
- Tagged Church Street, liverpool images, liverpool photo, liverpool photos, liverpool pics, liverpool streets, St Peter's Church
Many thanks for this website, lovely clear photos of the city as it was. The picture of the three scruffy boys brought tears to my eyes, as I remember kids dressed like this – I’d be about the same age as them. What made it worse was that some of them had lost their fathers in the war and this was the best Britain could do for them. The memory of the poverty kids like these endured – yet they can still smile for the camera – still pains me sixty years on. I hope life was kinder to them in later years.
wonderful Pictures, thank you !
The building on the extreme left went on to become the first F.W. Woolworth & Co. 3d & 6d Store in Great Britain.
“The 1st UK Store [1909-1923] at 25 & 25a Church Street, Liverpool was already an existing building before F.W.Woolworth & Co. Ltd came to the city. According to Joseph Sharples, author of Liverpool, Pevsner Architectural Guides describes it as:
‘the Italianate shop now occupied by Clarkes was designed by Lewis Hornblower, c. 1858, for the art metalworkers and electroplater’s Elkington’s. The Builder disliked the thin columns to the upper floors, ‘which suggest rain-water pipes without being so’.”
Part extract of a report posted on Yo-Liverpool. Full report, refer to Post#71 on the link below.
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?4377-Woolworths-Liverpool/page8&highlight=woolworths