Gordon Working Lads Institute Now Kirkdale Community Centre
KIRKDALE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 238A, STANLEY ROAD, KIRKDALE, LIVERPOOL, L5 7QP
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1063299
- Date first listed:
- 19-Jun-1985
- List Entry Name:
- Gordon Working Lads Institute Now Kirkdale Community Centre
- Statutory Address:
- KIRKDALE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 238A, STANLEY ROAD, KIRKDALE, LIVERPOOL, L5 7QP
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-06-30
- Reference:
- IOE01/06043/20
- Rights:
- © Mr Philip Pye. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1063299
- Date first listed:
- 19-Jun-1985
- List Entry Name:
- Gordon Working Lads Institute Now Kirkdale Community Centre
- Statutory Address 1:
- KIRKDALE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 238A, STANLEY ROAD, KIRKDALE, LIVERPOOL, L5 7QP
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- KIRKDALE COMMUNITY CENTRE, 238A, STANLEY ROAD, KIRKDALE, LIVERPOOL, L5 7QP
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Liverpool (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SJ 34674 93460
Details
SJ 3493
16/1210
STANLEY ROAD L4
No 238a, Gordon Working Lads Institute, now Kirkdale Community Centre
(Formerly listed as Kirkdale Community Centre, STANLEY ROAD)
GV
II
Working Lads' Institute,1886, by David Walker of Liverpool. Common brick with red brick dressings, slate roof. In a form of North European Late Gothic. Two storeys with attics, 9 x 5 bays; two bays at each end break forward under shaped gables. Windows have elliptical heads with blind tracery in the tympana and small-paned casements. Gables contain two oeil-de-boeuf windows. First three bays of the return have stepped gables.
History: It is thought to be Britain's oldest surviving purpose-built Boys’ Club and set the standard for many clubs that followed it. The Institute was erected at a cost of £50,000 by William Cliff, a Liverpool merchant, as a memorial to his eldest son who died at 11 years of age in 1853. The Institute was so named to commemorate and perpetuate the memory of Major General Charles Gordon, who was killed in battle at Khartoum in 1885, prompting an outbreak of national mourning and hero-worship. The ethos of the Institute was to promote educational, recreational and sporting facilities to poor and disadvantaged boys of Liverpool and so help them to live 'happy and useful lives' (as stated on an extensive marble plaque in the vestibule).
The building closed in 1995 but was revived in 2000 by a local action group. An £800,000 grant from the European Regional Development Fund provided the means for extensive restoration of many of the internal features.
Listing NGR: SJ3467493460
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 359586
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 01:37:55.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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