The Agony of Georgian Liverpool 40th Anniversary

Introduction In August 1984 Ken Powell produced a report for Save Britain’s Heritage it was titled “The Agony of Georgian Liverpool”.

40 years later the Directors of The Dusty Teapot Company CIC found a copy of this report in our archives and decided that 2024 would be an appropriate year to re-visit it and explore the “agony” of Georgian Liverpool – are the Georgian properties in a better or worse state than they were in 1984?

There will be two versions of this updated report: This, the first version, will replicate the images in the 1984 report and comment on the properties mentioned in that report. This report will be published in August 2024 to mark the 40th anniversary of the original report.

The second version will expand on the 1984 report and look at the condition of other Georgian property in Liverpool. This version will be circulated later in 2024.

No attempt will be made at this point in this report to anticipate the findings but we will, instead, ask that readers make their own conclusions. Our own thoughts will be given in the summary at the end of the report although these will be our thoughts only and neither a criticism nor a self-congratulatory thesis.

We encourage you to share this report with whomever you feel would benefit from or enjoy reading it.

David Hearn BA (Hons) MA and Richard Jackson BA (Hons) MA Directors, The Dusty Teapot CIC NB Due to the age of the original report we have been unable to source the original photos from SAVE. The quality reflects the technology available at the time. Should better versions be found we will update them in this report.

Liverpool – 1984 – 2024 On 28th August 1207 Liverpool received a charter from King John which created Liverpool as a borough. Although it is over 800 years old Liverpool has only been an important town and later city for around 300 years. Huge wealth came into Liverpool from its involvement in the horrific trans-Atlantic slave trade and the connected trade in goods from the Americas produced by enslaved people. The many connections made by Liverpool merchants and ship owners around the world saw the growth of Liverpool into one of the biggest ports in the world and, arguably, earning the title of “Second City of Empire”.

Liverpool has had its problems over the years but has also successfully “re-invented” itself many times.

In 1984 when the report “The Agony of Georgian Liverpool” was produced Liverpool was at a low not experienced since the Blitz over 40 years earlier in 1940/41. Liverpool had, for various reasons, experienced a slow but steady decline following the end of the Second World War and the “Toxteth Riots” of 1981 marked a low point in the economic and social history of the city.

If disastrous “low points” occurred in Liverpool in the 1940s and the 1980s which were “rescued” by a resurrection of the city’s property what is the prospect for Georgian Liverpool 40 years on? The aim of this “short” report is to update the 1984 report an illustrate changes both positive and negative. The “long” report will look at more of Liverpool’s Georgian properties to see if a pattern of either maintenance and care or neglect and demolition can be observed.

Shaw Street, Everton

Next to the Collegiate School and the Particular Baptist Chapel. The four listed houses at numbers 6 to 12 Shaw Street have, as the 1984 report predicted been demolished and replaced by a modern store and carpark. The listed Collegiate School building which dates from 1843 but which was in a deteriorating state following its closure in 1987, was renovated and converted into 96 one, two and three bedroomed flats by the redevelopment company Urban Splash who won an RIBA housing award for the redevelopment in 2002.

37A to 71 Shaw Street, Everton

This block remains thankfully and has been mostly renovated although with two notable exceptions – see the 2024 photographs.

The next block, however, has not survived and is currently an empty plot.

Boundary Street, Kirkdale

All of these properties have been demolished and the site is simply a grassed plot.

Great Mersey Street

The properties photographed in 1984 have survived and, indeed, they have been renovated by Rotunda who have created a community hub within them. For details of what Rotunda does follow this link: https://www.therotunda.org.uk

Springfield Street

The street appears to have completely disappeared from the map along with all the properties in the 1984 photograph.

276 Upper Parliament Street

In 1984 it was thought that this detached Georgian property might be demolished to be landscaped as part of “an improvement scheme for the adjacent Council estate.” This property is a good example of a success story that has saved the property although potentially demolition is still a possibility. Presumably the property was used as a Doctors surgery for some time although in July 2024 when visited the property was in a poor condition and in use as an HMO.

58-74 Upper Parliament Street

In 1984 some of these properties were described as being “ … in a very poor state” however in 2024 all of the properties appear to have been very much improved and are now occupied for a mixture of residential and commercial purposes.

Junction of Berkley Street and Hampton Street

This photograph from 1984 which shows a mix of derelict Georgian properties and a modern “tower block” proved to be difficult to identify until we realised that the building between the Georgian and the modern building was the only building in the group that remains and is an electricity sub-station. All of the rest of the rest of the properties in the photo have gone. The Georgian properties in the 1984 photograph front onto Berkley Street.

Canning Street

The whole of Canning Street has been dramatically improved as can be seen in the 2024 photograph. When we visited the section of Canning Street between Hope Street and Catherine Street there was a property that had recently been sold for £950,000 and a two bedroomed flat in another property was for sale at £240,000.

St Andrew’s Church, Rodney Street

St Andrew’s Church, designed by John Foster Sr is Grade II* listed.

The church closed in 1975. Following a serious fire in 1983 one of the towers needing to be demolished because it was unsafe.

The site was purchased by a private company in 1988. The company had plans to convert the building into offices and medical consulting rooms in common with many other properties in Rodney St. By 2008 no work had been carried out and the site as acquired

by Liverpool City Council. The property was placed on the Heritage at Risk Register in the same year. Following an abortive plan by Liverpool John Moores University to convert the building into a library and grand entrance to their Mount Pleasant campus in 2011 plans were submitted for the property to be redeveloped to provide accommodation for 100 students. By 2015 the façade of the building had been restored including the replacement of the tower that had been demolished. The remainder of the building has been total redesigned to form student accommodation and a single storey extension attached to the North side of the building has also subsequently been restored to create a GP surgery.

Although the façade of the building retains much of its original appearance the graveyard is considerably over-grown and detracts from the overall appearance of the site.

The Lyceum, Bold Street

Built between 1800 and 1802 to a design by Thomas Harrison.

This building is Grade II* listed. In the late 1970s it was planned to demolish the building until the intervention of SAVE Britain’s Heritage resulted in the building being purchased by the Department of the Environment.

In the 1984 the building was purchased by the Post Office for £320,000 with a view to opening it as the city’s main Post Office.

Following a national restructuring of the Post Office a private company – Post Office Counters Limited became the owners and did not have the resources to convert the building which was again sold to developers who again sought permission to demolish it.

Liverpool City Council and English Heritage objected and part of the building was leased to the Post Office. Other retail units were created a series of restaurants opened and closed and a branch of a building society and later the Co-operative Bank were opened in the basement of the Waterloo Place façade. The Post Office closed in 2004 followed by the closure of the other retail units.

The Co-operative Bank closed in 2017 and the building remained empty changing hands a number of times following the liquidation of the developers. for a number of years until a Chinese restaurant opened but did not survive long.

As of 2024 the ground floor of the building is occupied by a miniature golf and bar – One Below

Seymour Street

The 1984 report for Save Britain’s Heritage is pessimistic for the future of the East side of Seymour Street following the demolition of the West side in the street yet this street remains an early example of how Liverpool’s Georgian property could be saved. In July 2024 Reeds Rains are offering four self-contained flats for sale for offers over £725,000.

11 to 53 Seymour Street are Listed Grade II by Historic England. In 2004 the Liverpool Echo published an article about the street. 17 Seymour Street has a Blue Plaque – see photograph.

Lord Nelson Street

Again a pessimistic view in the 1984 report has, thankfully, been proved to be inaccurate. The properties in the 1984 report have been renovated as has the former tobacco factory. Properties further towards Lime Street however do not appear to be in as good a condition.

Bold Place

As in the case of Lord Nelson Street the properties in Bold Place have been renovated and whilst they are no longer in the dilapidated condition they were in 40 years ago they are now again looking “unloved” and in need of some attention.`

Duke Street 169-175 Duke Street

Though there was reason for pessimism in respect of these properties in 1984 the 2024 photograph confirms that the buildings are not only still standing but the appearance of at least two of them have improved with a shop front being removed and the facia of another restored to something more like what its original appearance might have been like. In 2024 The Monroe pub closed after very many years although it was gratifying to see on our visit that it was being renovated with a view to re-opening.

17-25 Duke Street

In a similar way these properties which are photographed in the 1984 report but not identified have all been renovated and remain occupied and used.

Junction of Duke Street and Suffolk Street

Sadly none of the buildings photographed in 1984 remain having been demolished and replaced with a modern office building called Grimaldi House which is the Liverpool office of Atlantic Container Line.`

116-126 Duke Street

Sadly the worst prospect in the 1984 report has happened and the end property has, indeed, been demolished and in 2024 it remains an empty site.

As well as it’s Georgian architecture Liverpool has a legacy Victorian architecture, some world-class early 20th Century architecture, wonderful 1930’s architecture and, increasingly, dramatic 21st Century architecture.

1-3 Duke Street

Sadly this wonderful corner building which was built in 1760 was demolished in 2000 because the condition of the building was so poor that part of it collapsed and it was declared unsalvageable. However in 2002 it was announced that an exact replica of the original building would be rebuilt using as many of the original materials as possible. The rebuilt building was opened in March 2007 and is a 31 room apartment hotel called Posh Pads.

159-163 and 169-175 Duke Street

The 1984 report says that 169-175 Duke Street are subject to an application to demolish and the photograph suggests that this demolition has, in fact already taken place. However, since 1984 169-175 have been rebuilt in a similar style to 159163. We have some interesting information about 159-163 Duke Street which we will include in the expanded version of this report.

Irvine Street, Edge Hill

This terrace remains in good condition with the exception of one property – see photographs. It is, perhaps, interesting that All Saints Church in Irvine Street is one of a number of Georgian churches in Liverpool on the Heritage At Risk Register. In order to be restored and “survive” does a property have to have both a commercial value and a future that is both viable and sustainable?

Great George Square Great George Square contains two groups of “apparently” Georgian properties. The first group – see the photograph – is, upon closer examination nothing more than a façade with a new building behind it, The second group on the South side of the square does appear to be a number of complete Georgian properties.

Egerton Street

Egerton Street was within a stones throw of perhaps the “heart” of the 1981 “Toxteth Riots” which saw both The Rialto and the NatWest Bank destroyed and yet this street now presents as two very attractive lines of terraced houses. The road is clean and tidy with no apparent issues. There is a pub in the street called Peter Kavanagh’s which is something of a Liverpool “destination pub” attracting customers from around the South end of the city as well as locals.

Nelson Street

For many years the heart of Liverpool’s “China Town” and home to the biggest Chinese arch in the UK Nelson Street now presents as a mix of successful and, indeed, “new” businesses but also of closed businesses perhaps most noticeably the former Higson’s pub The Nook and the large Chinese restaurant Mr Chow’s which has been closed for some years now. The property described in the 1984 report as “an example of Post Modernist Orientalism!” has, since 1984 been demolished and the site is vacant but not derelict – see the 2024 photograph.

Clayton Square/ Cases Street

With the exception of a small section of Cases Street, the area has been altered beyond any recognition by the construction of the Clayton Square shopping centre.

Preliminary Summary Liverpool’s architecture has been created by a number of architects several born in or near the city – John Foster Jr; Peter Ellis, Sir James Picton, John Weightman, Alfred Waterhouse, Thomas Shelmerdine, Sir Charles Riley, Herbert J. Rowse, One thing that Liverpool is certainly NOT is some form of architectural “museum”. We have run exhibitions of old photographs of Liverpool and we included a panorama of the waterfront as it is today. Many people commented that the new buildings were an “eyesore”, “out of place”, “hideous” and “ruin the waterfront”. We enjoyed the discourse we had with the visitors and would point out to them that people said exactly the same thing about the Liver Building when it opened in 1911.

Times, opinions and styles change. Liverpool changes with them all.

Liverpool is a thriving modern, commercial city with an important tourist economy and an eye to the future whilst, at the same time, never forgetting to look over its shoulder at the past.

Liverpool Georgian Buildings on the Historic England at Risk Register St James’s Gardens Woolton Hall, Speke Road Church of St James, St James Place All Saints Church, Irvine Street Church of St George, Heyworth St, Everton St Michael’s Church, St Michael’s Hamlet Wellington Rooms, Mount Pleasant St Bride’s Church, Percy Street Looking at the above list it is interesting that five of the eight properties are churches and a sixth “property” is cemetery which is closed for further burials. Attendances at Church of England churches has been in decline for a number of years with a consequential reduction in money available to a parish for even basic property maintenance. What is the answer for churches that are at risk? The internal arrangement of a church does not lend itself to other uses. We are, indeed, aware of a number of churches that have removed the pews and replaced them with chairs to allow a more flexible use of the building. If the congregation of a church falls to the level whereby it is no longer sustainable to support neither the clergy nor the building then what alternatives exist for the continued usage of that building?

In such a situation is it acceptable for an entirely different use to be found – one in which the internal features of the building are “lost” forever but the outer “shell” remains? A number of former Liverpool churches have been converted into residential accommodation.

The outside appearance of such buildings is relatively unchanged but they are once again vibrant buildings that contribute to the appearance of the local community. The alternative to such a conversion may well have been demolition and replacement by a modern collection of residential accommodation.

The SECRET of renovation would appear to be one of finding an “end use/user” for the property. It is, perhaps, understandable that any provider of funds and these could run into many hundreds of thousands of pounds would wish to know that once renovated the property would not simply be left to decay again. The “end use/user” needs to be credible, long-lasting and capable of raising sufficient funds to maintain the property.

It is not possible to separate the question of safeguarding the condition of buildings and, indeed, neighbourhoods from property prices.

Report by David Hearn BA (Hons) MA 1984 Photographs by Kieth Parkinson at SAVE Britains Heritage - 2024 Photographs by Richard Jackson BA (Hons) MA Copyright © August 2024 - The Dusty Teapot Company

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