Lost Liverpool (1)
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 [...]
I agree Colin.
See this thread here:
http://www.yoliverpool.com/forum/sho...lost+buildings
.
When an antique is too far gone for restoration but we get it restored, it no longer becomes an antique.
Customs house was an antique.
Hi George,
In that case the Albert Dock should have been turned into a car park as proposed in the 1970s. There are many other buildings - warehouses, churches etc. which have been imaginatively restored. Look at the Novas building on Parliament Street as just one recent example. The external fabric of The Custom House was sound enough and the building should have been saved. There was a campaign to save it, led by Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh, but in the immediate post-War years, the politicians were chasing a different vision of the future.
I've said this elsewhere on Yo where the Customs house was brought up in the conversation,we have to draw a line somewhere in relation to the extent of the damage despite its external structure still standing after the war.
Internally it was completly none existant,what this means is what restoration that would have incurred wouldn't have been from the time it was built but modern materials used for the whole of the interior and that to me would have lost the buildings splendour of old.
I take it you have seen the buildings internal damage?
The interior was not the strong part of the building - by all accounts it was pretty gloomy inside due to the lack of windows. As the restoration of the Reichstag by Norman Foster proves - there is no problem incorporating a contemporary style into a knackered old building. The Custom House should have been seen as a symbol of Liverpool's greatness not as an eyesore. OK - Norman Foster was working in a totally different political and economic climate - but there were plenty of talented architects back in the 1950s who could have handled the restoration.
This might be too narrow a view. Any building or ship, anything out in the elements needs restoration work. Do you think HMS Victory in Portsmouth is the same ship that was launched in 1765? It isn't. Nor is USS Constellation in Boston harbor the same ship that was launched in 1797. Nor are Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's Cathedral the same buildings they were even a hundred years ago, not in the polluted atmosphere of London. I remember walking through the graveyard of St. Paul's some years ago and seeing all the disfigured marble statuary that had been brought down from the facade in order to be replaced. That's what restoration is all about. Still these things are national treasures, though they are technically not the same as they were before. It's impossible for them to be the same "antiques" they once were if we are to keep them.Originally Posted by George
Chris
Christopher T. George
Editor, Ripperologist
Editor, Loch Raven Review
http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
Chris on Flickr and on MySpace
Hi Chris,
What's that saying about Grandpa's old axe? Despite having three new handles and two new heads. It's still Grandpa's axe. The same also with the Athenian Parthenon, there's an ongoing program to replace all the erroded Pentelic marble, in order to protect the rest of the structure. Time is an significant factor in all of this - today we see an illusory finished object, when in reality, the actual fabric and design may have changed many times over it's history? John Donne's "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main" I think, can also be applied to buildings as well. All have a relationship with the patterns of the past. This is what I find fascinating about old buildings.
Cheers,
Daz
It's just a pity that so many buildings of the past of outstanding architecture, the likes of which will never be built again, unless its green glass and steel, were allowed to succumb to rot and the iron ball. Athens and Rome kept theirs even if it were only ruins.
Correct Colin. St. Lukes was nearly lost to road widening scheme which saw the UAB/Dole building on Leece lost in the 80s. It didn't go ahead.
We also lost the Georgian terrace on the opposite side of Seymour street (to the one so greatly restored) - to the Shankland plan for road widening within the city centre - most of which didn't come off, including this part of it.
Even the St. Georges Hall was being left to wrack and ruin at one stage before restoration. If done sympathetically to the period the building is from, there's not a problem with restoration.
The original Exchange Flags and Cotton Exchange frontages were so ornamental.
Internals wouldn't count for much in this day and age anyway though. Look at the met quarter utilising the old GPO with a complete new fit out into modern building regs etc. The lyceum in bold st was fitted out as a post office then cafe - the original interior not being fit for use for those purposes. Liverpool museum even isn't how it was built or intended back in the late 1800s. I'm all for keeping exteriors of outstanding architectural merit even if the interiors are 21st century glitz and glamour.
I have a couple of photo's I took of Seymour Street from the mid 70's.
I was doing a photography A level course in Hugh Bairds in Bootle, and took a load of mid 70's images, many where from the Docks, we had a special pass and had access to all areas! Bet you can't get that pass now!
I got a few photo's of the old tennies too Ged.
Also a set that I KNOW won't interest you! Liverpools European Cup Parade from 77 :P
Did you ever manage to upload those pix? I'd like to see the Seymour St ones.
Dave.
Ohh just remembered!
Got a very early photo of West Derby Village looking towards the Church from the main bus route to town.
It was a Glass plate that a mate found in a house clearence, so I did a pic from it, its got to be 1920's or earlier, theres just one car in the picture and its a Laurel and Hardy type Car!
Great stuff H, post em' up. Funnily enough I was at that parade and proof can be seen on this page of my site. Yo's very own gregs dad capturing me and my mate - both blues - on the Byrom st walkway as the open top bus passed underneath. Then we legged it, well struggled through the crowds in William Brown st to see the team come out with the cups - almost the treble of course. I was there in 74 too and in 73 I held the UEFA vase in the Walker Art Gallery while meeting Keegan and Shankly. I was 11 and my dad worked there so got me in during the evening.
http://inacityliving.piczo.com/?g=27070860&cr=7 (scroll to the bottom - i'm a closet red)
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