Liverpool Monuments, Statues and Sculptures

[scouserdave]

Stunning photos. A mate of mine and Sebo's, Pat Neil has an excellent website worth checking out.
www.liverpoolmonuments.co.uk

He also contributes to the recently set up website of St James Church, Toxteth
http://www.stjamestoxteth.co.uk

[ChrisGeorge]

Hi Kev

Glad to see these

photographs. Well done. Sorry to see the statues so bashed up though, arms missing and other damage. I remember them from when I attended nearby Quarry

Bank High School 1965-1967.

Chris

[PhilipG]

Wouldn't it be a good idea if Liverpool had a statue of Eros in Sefton Park?
Just like the one in Piccadilly Circus, or even like the one in the Conservation Centre, here in Liverpool.

[Max]

The Luggage one I took at the beginning of this month.

Is that Peter Pan statue now in the palm house area?

[marky]

Peter Pan was put inside the Palm House grounds a few months ago.
The Eros in the Conservation Centre IS the one from Sefton Park and it's a disgrace that it's never going back. It does look nice and clean in the 'Eros Cafe', but I'd hardly say it is on public display...another case of Town pinching other areas artworks.

[PhilipG]

Behave yourself Kev, make it into a borin cylinder?? it's a great shape- it says 'Liverpool.' I wouldn't mind another one, just loads taller.

Iconic, to me anyway, is the fountain at the back of office buildings of The Goree. The 60's one where the buckets fill up and hiss and tip over. I think it's a wonderful piece, and again IS Liverpool.

I agree.
I love that fountain, but for years it wasn't working.
However, Beetham converted the office block into apartments called Beetham Plaza (2000) and got it working again.

[The Teardrop Explodes]

It really is a great..."thing." A wonderful object. Always utterly fascinated me as a kid. It always seemed to have it's own personality, almost alive spooky and wierd and great.

I was always transfixed by the door to the 'office' in the right hand pillar. My ambition in life was to live in it.

Went to visit it about a year ago. Have they messed around with the pressures? Wasn't making the clanging racket I remember it making.

[john]

It really is a great..."thing." A wonderful object. Always utterly fascinated me as a kid. It always seemed to have it's own personality, almost alive spooky and wierd and great.

I was always transfixed by the door to the 'office' in the right hand pillar. My ambition in life was to live in it.

Went to visit it about a year ago. Have they messed around with the pressures? Wasn't making the clanging racket I remember it making.

I remember that water feature could sit there as a kid amazed, it was always very quiet there as well

[The Teardrop Explodes]

..actually the one aspect of it that isn't so great is the paltry amount of muddy looking water which sometimes gets allowed into the basin part. That bit only looks great when it's got a good quantity foamin down there.

[marky]

That 'bucket fountain' has a small 'hidden' piece of artwork done by Cammell Lairds. I transcribed the writing on it about 2 years ago...took me ages as it was covered in stickers at the time. I'll dig out a pic/transcription (mentions Goree and some American author I just can't remember at the moment, who had offices nearby)
I might be wrong but weren't the walls of this fountain covered in tiny square tiles when it was first installed. The walls seem too smooth nowadays.
I can remember it used to make a clunking sound, but that was years ago when it was probably new.

[The Teardrop Explodes]

That 'bucket fountain' has a small 'hidden' piece of artwork done by Cammell Lairds. I transcribed the writing on it about 2 years ago...took me ages as it was covered in stickers at the time. I'll dig out a pic/transcription (mentions Goree and some American author I just can't remember at the moment, who had offices nearby)
I might be wrong but weren't the walls of this fountain covered in tiny square tiles when it was first installed. The walls seem too smooth nowadays.
I can remember it used to make a clunking sound, but that was years ago when it was probably new.

Was it built by Lairds? The idea of a hidden inscription's exciting.

Aye it was tiled in 'futuristic' light grey. Which was appropriate as it's a retro-futurustic homage of the Thunderbirds era. Doesn't really look true painted in what is it.. 'homely' burnt ochre or something?

The sound was unmistakable. This ever rising frequency of HISSS!! and BUBBLE from the pipes as each particular bucket filled up, then this CRASH! as 60 gallons of water cascades into the tarmac (?yeah, I know)clad pool below.
Wanton noise-insania.

Remember the thrill of arching over to peer into the filling vessels from either of the towers?

[marky]

'Fountains Of Liverpool' should be the grand title of my first book. Dead easy, we only have about 2!! (Drinking fountains on the Dock Rd and the odd one in a park doesn't count). . .

Best Fountains In Liverpool
1. The 60's bucket one at the back of The Goree offices. This is a great thing. A work of conceptual art in itself. Wierd noises then cascades of water. I was told each stem of buckets represented one of the Beatles -great imagery- except there are 5 of em...
2. The Walker Fountain. It's ok. Classical, bit boring to be honest but nice enough.
.......and that's the Top 2 out of 2!

That 'bucket fountain' has a small 'hidden' piece of artwork done by Cammell Lairds. I transcribed the writing on it about 2 years ago...took me ages as it was covered in stickers at the time.

There are still some original tiles between the spears, and possibly on the inside of the large 'basin'. The newer colours just don't seem right to me.
Here's a transcript of what is written on the shield...I doubt many people have seen it before:

"GOREE-PIAZZA," ORIGINALLY TWO ARCADED
WAREHOUSES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OLD
DOCK ROAD, WAS NAMED AFTER THE ISLAND
"GOREE," OFF THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA

ON THE 14TH OF SEPTEMBER 1802 THE
PIAZZA WAS GUTTED BY A SPECTACULAR
FIRE, DESCRIBED BY THOMAS DE QUINCEY

IN 1817, WASHINGTON IRVING WORKED AT
NO.1 AND 1853-7, NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
AMERICAN CONSUL IN LIVERPOOL HAD HIS
OFFICE AT "WASHINGTON-HOUSE, GOREE"

THE OLD PIAZZA WAS SEVERELY BOMBED
IN THE AIR RAIDS OF 1941 AND FINALLY
DEMOLISHED BETWEEN 1948 AND 1950

IN 1967, TO MARK THE COMPLETION OF THE
NEW PIAZZA, THIS PLAQUE WAS KINDLY
PRESENTED BY CAMMELL LAIRD & COMPANY
(S & E) LIMITED, BUILDERS OF THE FOUNTAIN

[marky]

Washington Irving, the author mentioned on the shield wrote:
'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' (Headless Horseman story) and 'Rip Van Winkle'

[sweetpatooti]

I remember sitting by this fountain in the 70s having me dinner in the summer..we young office girls used to put our tootsies in the water. One day somebody had thrown a whole packet of soap powder in and the bubbles were all over the place - wild times the 70s!

[catherinemurphy]

Great to see so much interest in statues at The Palm House.
It's a great afternoon's entertainment, just walking around them and reading the history of each one and how they connect with Liverpool.

Ben Murphy, son of sculptor Tom Murphy and a fine artist in his own right has recently restored these statues to their former glory.
He studied conservation at the prestigious West Dean College, Chichester where he was a Queen Elizabeth Scholar.