I've found reference to a house called 'The Gables' at 5 Croxteth Road.
In the late 1800s it was the seat of a Mr Thomas Snape - a radical liberal MP for Haywood District. Snape started as an alkali manufacturer in Widnes before becoming an MP. Snape's family it seemed stayed there and were close to the Lloyd George family. There is a possibility that Snape married a member of the Lloyd George family as their only son is listed as Professor H. Lloyd-Snape. It was a common practice for the child's second name to be the mothers maiden name - especially if she was from a prostidious family.
In the early 1900s there was correspondence from a Mr Edward Russell and a Mr Robert A. Duncan from 'The Gables' to David Lloyd George - then Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Prime Minister.
Interesting but sadly doesn't help you much does it? Croxteth Road doesn't join Smithdown Road but Croxteth Drive does, at the Ullet Road junction. Possibly it was one of the grand houses that surround Sefton Park.
Good Luck!
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EDIT: There is a house still called 'The Gables'. A large Victorian mansion situated on Normanton Avenue near Sefton Park but no-where near Smithdown. Link to it
here.
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