I have often tried to picture what Liverpool would be like if it had kept some of its finest buildings. Does it matter if buildings are lost? To quote William Morris:
‘It has been most truly said that these old buildings do not belong to us only: that they belonged to our forefathers and they will belong to our descendants unless we play them false. They are not in any sense our property, to do as we like with them. We are only trustees for those who come after us …’ . Clearly not a message that had any sway with several generations of politicians and planners in Liverpool.
I have by started listing my ‘worst losses’ in some sort of league table. They are:
1) The Custom House (1828-39) by John Foster the Elder. Photographed above in 1875. To me, the greatest architectural loss the city has suffered. What a magnificent compliment it would have made to the Albert Dock. Firebombed in the Blitz, it was left a shell that could have been renovated had the will been there.
2) The Sailors’ Home (1846-52) by John Cunningham. An eccentric building modelled on an Elizabethan mansion. The less said about its unnecessary demolition the better.
3) Liverpool Overhead Railway (1893). Not so much a building but a unique and exhilirating experience. Today, cities spent millions on so-called ‘landmark’ buildings that rarely deliver because they usually fail to deliver any useful benefit. Here we had an iconic ‘building’ that would have thrilled generations of tourists (and natives). Demolished 1957/58 for economic reasons.
4) St John’s Market (1820-22) by John Foster Junior. Not just the market but the whole area of tightly packed streets which fed into the main market (including the Theatre Royal and Williamson Square/the Stork Hotel and Queen Square). The kind of ubiquitous concrete malls are dead in the water. Planners now argue for keeping street patterns and a human scale. A bit too late!
5) Goree Piazzas (1787- rebuilt 1802 after fire).The first moden warehouses to be built (at the same time as George’s Dock. With its magnificent arcaded pavements it unfortunately occupied a key site in the post-War Shankland Plan mentality and made way for a road that lets us get to our destination 10 seconds faster.
6) St Michael’s Church, Pitt Street. I could add St George’s Church, St Paul’s Church and a dozen others – but this is my favourite. In an area now bereft of good architecture, it would have been an uplifting sight. Bomb damaged beyond repair.
7) Kent Square (and surrounding area). Charles Reilly wrote of the area ‘it contains some very fine houses and the finest square in town, Great George Square. It also contains that jewel in an ancient setting, Kent Square. Fragments exist but the character of this early Georgian area was destroyed in the 1930s for municipal housing. Imagine a fine cluster of Georgian housing with St Michael’s Church at the centre – a sad loss.
The next seven to follow – but please add your own ‘worst losses’, it should make interesting reading.
When I was young, both sides of Upper Parliament Street had houses all the way up from St James’ Place to it’s junction with Tunnel Road and though some were quite dilapidated after the war, they were still a stunning sight stretching away into the distance as you made your way up the hill. The remaining terrace stretching from Catherine Street to Grove Street gives some idea of just how grand they would look if we still had them today.
I can remember Fritz Spiegl being particularly incensed that Dr Duncan’s Dispensary at the number 1 Upper Parliament Street was demolished to make way for road widening. In a similar vein Kitty Wilkinson’s public washhouse on Upper Frederick Street was also demolished. Perhaps not of great architectural note but of huge significance in the social history of Liverpool. We really do have a poor record in recognising what is important to our heritage.
I am haunted by memories of Lark Hill mansion house (demolished ~1962). This eighteenth mansion on Queen’s Drive belonged to the Heywoods and used to house Larkhill library up to 1962. The excuse for demolishing seems to have been dry rot, which we now know is treatable, but conservation was not in any case foremost in the Corporation’s mind in those days. Pevsner mourns its loss in his book on Lancashire: Liverpool and the South West (see p403). I am trying to remember more about it, and but there are few photographs.
Hi Robert,
I do have one or two photographs of Lark Hill, which I will post in the future. Lark Hill was one of many mansions lost in the 1950s and 60s (including Lee Park, Broadgreen, Norris Green, Allerton and Childwall Hall). Different reasons for demolition including dry rot, fire or to make way for new housing. I accept not all could be kept – but more should have been.
Thank you so much for posting such amazing pictures and a wealth of interesting info. will be recommending your site to fellow family historians. Well done, keep up the good work.
Many thanks Ann – it is very heartening to know the posts are being well received.
I can’t really put into words how much this site has made me understand just how undervalued our architectural heritage is.
Even now, it comes and goes under our very eyes but records or history like the one above show us a Liverpool that is indeed lost, an ancient Liverpool, that thanks to blogs like this, will be there, at least in photographic form, for generations to come.
Fantastic site, very well done sir.
Thanks Alwyn, it is sobering to think how magnificent Liverpool could have been (I know it is anyway) had we kept just a few of the lost buildings: the Custom House, Sailors’ Home, Overhead Railway, Goree Piazzas, St John’s Market to name just the obvious. All unnecessarily demolished. How little foresight!
I recently visited Liverpool with my girlfriend and we were really impressed with the historic buildings you have, such as Albert Dock and Lime Street railway station. Sad to see the original Cavern Club is no longer here.
Your website shows just how much better Liverpool could have been today had it kept its buildings from the past.
If we had preserved our best architecture and socially important buildings and sites in this country as they have done in Italy, I’m sure we would have more tourism and more civic pride and stronger communities as a result.
The new buildings we are putting up in towns and cities across the country are so unloved and uninspiring that they can never match what has gone.
My girlfriend and I are from Sheffield and our home city has also needlessly lost its heritage for offices blocks which lasted 30 years before falling into disrepair and then being demolished.
Liverpool – we know how you feel – so fight to keep what is left of your heritage as it is irreplaceable and much admired by people from other parts of the country.
Finally, I’ve heard the news about demolishing Ringo Starr’s first home when he was a baby for a housing renewal scheme. I know another house where Ringo lived is standing in Liverpool, but why not keep both and connect them in a Beatles heritage trail? Hope they see sense and save it.
Soon to follow will be Liverpools public spaces now being taken over by
giant corporations and turned into a city sized private shopping mall.
Wont be long before there’s a logo name change from Liverpool to something like
Westminster Waters to chime with Wirral Waters across the river another
corporate obscenity waiting to go up.
Re Larkhill Mansions
I was born in 1932 and spent my childhood & youth living on Queens Drive near to the Mansion & Gardens. The Mansions & Gardens were my play area.
Larkhill Library
The side facing Queens Drive housed the Library and the other end was occupied by the Cubs & Boy Scouts. The front of the house looking toward Muirhead Avenue overlooking a terrace and below the terrace were three hard tennis courts beyond which were two bowling greens, to the right running along Queens Drive was a childrens play ground and some grass tennis courts.
At the rear of the house facing Hewitson Road were beautiful formal gardens.
During the war the main body of the house was occupied by the homeguard. After the war a table tennis club used one of the rooms while regular Saturday Night dances were held in the main lounge.
A man who we nicknamed Boris, (never knew his real name), was the caretaker, he put the fear of God into us, wo-betide any youngsters who tried to get into mischief after dark, he wouldn’t even allow ua to do our courting.
The Mansion was still standing & functioning up to 1956 when I married and moved out of the area.
Sadly I visited the area last year, everything has gone, no gardens, no bowling greens, the hard courts are still there or at least you can still see the lines marking the courts the only thing left is the playground and a new library built approximately where the old one was.
Incidentally I have read a few descriptions of the mansions on the net and almost without exception they claim that the house stood where the tennis courts were, not correct, I spent a lot of my youth playing on those courts, the house stood on the terrace behind the courts.
While this doesn’t tell a lot about the history of the place the article by Robert Henderson made me start thinking about those long ago days so thank you Robert for allowing an old man to ramble down memory lane
David Haskell
Re Larkhill Mansion Correction
The front of the house with the formal gardens overlooked Hewitson Road.
The rear of the house overlooked the terrace & tennis courts etc.
David Haskell
Re Larkhill Mansion Correction
The front of the house with the formal gardens overlooked Hewitson Road.
The rear of the house overlooked the terrace & tennis courts etc.
There should be no heading for the second paragraph, ie, The heading Larkhill should be erased.
David Haskell
I am going to visit Liverpool on the 15th of April. Having recently uncovered some documents relating to my family’s history, I’m very happy to declare myself a Scouser in exile! The sad part is that I was hoping to visit or at least see my great grandfather’s birthplace 32a Gt George’s Street and my great grandmother’s birthplace 8 Kent Square. I’m a bit saddened to learn of their demise. I know from the records that they were married in St.Peter’s Church in 1899 and I hope that it is still standing!! Brilliant website. Take care or should I say ta ra!
[...] most recent post as of this writing does a similar service to other lost Liverpool buildings, including arguably the most-missed: the Customs House, which was needlessly demolished in the [...]
I was only 2 years of age when I moved into the Larkhill area, after having previously lived in Tuebrook. I turned three in 1961, and have very vague memories of their being a very large house in the area of the library. I can remember the library being built when I was a small child, and trips to the play area adjacent to it. They had a large maypole, a “witches hat”,and a cast iron drinking fountain. Many a happy hour was spent playing there. On Saturday mornings, I would venture to the Carlton Cinema on the corner of Green Lane and West Derby Road, for the Saturday morning films for kids. For 6d we would watch films such as Flssh Gordon, and other little known films, provided the ancient old janitor their let us in. He delighted in pacing up and down the large queue of rowdy kids outside the cinema, clipping their ears and trying to keep us in order. Inside the cinema, it would be impossible to hear the films for the screaming kids. Before the film began, we would sing a song called “Minors of the ABC” and the words would appear on the screen. On more than one occassion I would pretend it was my birthday, just to go on the stage and get a lollipop and some sweets. If the lady there suspected anything, then she said nothing, for she was a good natured type.
Ah, what memories! I also remember Waterworths Greengrocers on Queens Drive, Henri the French Grocer, Mrs Dodd’s Hairdressers, the Drapers, the sweet shop run by Mr and Mrs Morrison, Mr Quine the Vicar of St Andrews, Mrs King, the Brown Owl of the Brownies.
If anyone can remember my grand parents Harry and Mabel (known as Maureen) Tennant who lived in Asser Road, could they please get in touch. I was only six when they died, and do not know exactly which house they lived in.