Demolition notices threaten Liverpool cultural gem
Sep 3 2009
by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post
A CITY university is pushing ahead with plans to tear down crumbling city centre buildings, despite fears the work may also bring down a neighbouring cultural gem.
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) say 31 Pembroke Place ? which is opposite their new campus ? is a danger to the public and needs to be demolished.
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But the owner of number 29 next door ? the site of historic Galkoff?s butchers ? says his building relies on 31 for structural support.
The shop, first opened in 1907 and now Grade II-listed, is renowned as the only surviving example of a tiled Kosher butchers in the UK. Original owner Percy Galkoff was also thought to be the first meat seller to use a fridge.
Now LSTM has notified the council it will be pulling down number 31.
The owner of Galkoff?s, Rob Ainsworth, has also been notified by LSTM under Party Wall legislation about the imminent demolition.
LSTM says it will do it all it can to support the party wall, but Mr Ainsworth remains unconvinced.
Galkoff?s has already lost support to one side. Number 27 was knocked down to make way for a block of apartments and shops in the mid-1990s.
Fears over the safety of the building then prompted builders to drive bolts through 29 and 31?s adjoining wall to stop Galkoff?s toppling over.
Mr Ainsworth said last night: ?As my property was built as part of a terrace, I don?t think it will survive as a stand-alone building.
?It?s already lost the support 27 provided before it was demolished in 1994. The loss of the building mass of 31 and weathering problems to the exposed gable wall, plus wind suction, means it doesn?t bode well for Galkoff?s.
?Something might also go wrong in the demolition ? an ?enthusiastic demolition?, they call it.?
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