Gregson Memorial Institute

Reasons for Designation

* It is an interesting survival of a high quality, eclectically styled, small-scale late Victorian museum, art gallery and lecture rooms that was privately donated for the local community * It is unaltered externally and retains both its original floor plan and the majority of original interior features * The high quality interior is richly decorated with mosaic floors and colourful glazed tile ceilings and walls throughout, some incorporating Art Nouveau friezes. Of additional note is the survival of the main lecture hall with its barrel-vaulted ceiling, sloping floor, stage and elaborate wall decoration * The building's original function is clearly identifiable and readable within the building's architectural design and plan layout * Unusually the institute was commissioned by a woman, Isabella Gregson, at a time when most public benefactors were men * It has significant historic interest through its association with the Gregson family (an influential family of antiquarians and patrons in Liverpool) and references to their benefaction can be found throughout the building including carved door surrounds and mosaics incorporating the Gregson family members' initials

Details

392/0/10339 GARMOYLE ROAD 18-FEB-08 GREGSON MEMORIAL INSTITUTE

II Former lecture hall, art gallery and museum, 1895, by A P Fry. Brown brick with pressed red brick and sandstone dressings, slate roofs. Eclectic style with Old English, Arts & Crafts and Baroque influences, interior with Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau elements. Mainly single storey with integral 2-storey caretaker's house.

PLAN: Double-height lecture hall to front of building parallel to Garmoyle Road, two smaller parallel museum/art gallery rooms behind, two further museum/art gallery rooms to each rear corner at right angles to road. Main entrance hall and caretaker's house to far right (SE) of building. Secondary entrance hall and access to two first floor curator's rooms to left (NW) end.

EXTERIOR: Pitched roofs to front range and caretaker's house, flat roofs with large skylights to rear museum/art gallery rooms. Sash windows with geometrically patterned glazing bars. Pressed brick quoining detail and quoined surrounds to all windows. Sandstone lintels and sills to side elevations; some with pressed brick relieving arches. Entrance doors with iron lamp brackets and fittings above. Main front (SW) elevation: 3-bay single storey main entrance to far right, centre bay projects slightly forward with large arched panelled double doors set within a wide decorative stone and brick surround, curved stone pediment rising above roofline incorporates short flanking piers with triangular tops and ball finials. Pediment contains carved floral designs and relief lettering reading 'THE GREGSON MEMORIAL INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM'. Flanking sash windows with single vertical glazing bar to lower sashes and vertical and curved horizontal glazing bars to upper sashes. 6-bay double-height lecture hall to left with full-height pilaster strips surmounted by carved stone finials (in same style as those to main entrance) to right end bay and between bays 1 and 2. Shorter pilaster strips between bays 2 & 3 and 5 & 6 with stone detailing to top part. Carved stone eaves cornice. Tile ridge roll, ridge stack towards left (NW) end. Bay 1 with 6-over-3-over-1 sash window to ground floor and adjacent narrow 1-over-1 window, 6-over-3-over-2 sash window to first floor; all with sandstone lintels and sills, pressed brick relieving arches. Large stone 4-light arched windows (glazing bars to lower lights) to remaining bays with pressed brick arched heads and quoined surrounds. Taller window to centre bay with decorative raised gable with curved sides and pediment incorporating dentil cornice. Tympanum contains small rectangular vent. Relief lettering to shallow projecting decorative carved stone panel beneath pediment reads '1895'. Left (NW) side elevation: Gable end of lecture hall section with vertical and horizontal brick banding detail, secondary entrance with double doors (glazed upper panels now covered over) to ground floor right, paired sash windows to left (both missing some glazing bars) in same style as those to front, 4-over-2-over-2 stair window above centre, smaller 3-over-1-over-1 windows above to first floor and 6-over-3-over-2 window above left. Small square window (now boarded over) to attic/roof space. Single storey flat-roofed 3-bay section to left with 8-over-8 sash windows (two to left missing some glazing bars) incorporating 4-pane fixed lights to top. Right (SE) side elevation: 1 1/2 gable ends to left main entrance section with vertical brick banding to gables, four windows in arrangement 4-over-2-over-2, 2-over-1-over-1, 2-over-1-over-1, 4-over-2-over-2. 2-bay 2-storey caretaker's house to right with end ridge stacks. Left bay clad in pressed brick. Shallow triple-light bay window to ground floor left containing 3-over-1-over-1 sashes, paired 4-over-2-over-1 sash windows to rest of house. Raised high brick wall attached to far right with doorway leading into small rear yard. Rear (NE) elevation: Single storey flat-roofed museum/gallery rooms and continuation of yard wall to SE end, four windows in similar style to those to left side elevation.

INTERIOR: Intact floor plan. Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau elements. Coloured glazed tiled walls throughout (some with relief decoration) in brown, blue, green, cream, black, burgundy and yellow. Patterned mosaic floors survive to all areas except caretaker's house, two first floor curator's rooms and lecture hall, which have original floorboards. Moulded cornicing. Original moulded architraves and panelled doors survive throughout. Original heating system survives along with manually controlled air vents with hand-shaped controls in main rooms. Large open double-height main lecture hall to front with barrel-vaulted ceiling and curved trusses, sloping floor, elaborate colourful tiled and mosaic decoration to all walls. Relief decorated tiles set within tall vertical panels. Mosaic decoration to apex of ceiling at NW end depicts garlands, laurel leaves, fruit and ribbons. Central roundel contains initials 'S L G'. Decoration to apex at SE end depicts similar design and initials 'I G'. Original timber stage with glazed tile front exists to NW end with curved side stairs. Aligned rear museum/art gallery room adjacent to rear alley with elaborate tiled peacock scene frieze (partially damaged), aligned room immediately to rear of lecture hall with Art Nouveau patterned tiled frieze; both rooms with inserted removable low partition walls/screens to NW ends. Similar styled Art Nouveau patterned frieze survives to rear left room although painted over at present. Tiled frieze removed from rear right room, small kitchen inserted to NE end. White patterned tile ceilings and large skylights (most covered over) to all museum/art gallery rooms. Large entrance hall aligned NE-SW to far right of building with two double doors to left leading into lecture hall, toilets to right. Panelled mahogany door to rear of entrance hall leads into museum/art gallery rooms, carved decorative mahogany surround incorporates initials 'M G', 'I G', 'A G'. Original timber dog-leg stair with coloured tiled walls (band of relief decorated tiles in line with handrail) to NW end of building behind lecture hall leads to two first floor curator's rooms/offices. Rooms have cream tiled walls with burgundy and pale brown banding detail, moulded cornicing, tiled chimneybreasts with integral fireplaces (that to rear room with inserted gas fire). Similar styled fireplace to ground floor room below next to secondary entrance hall. Caretaker's house: Some moulded cornicing and original cupboards, two cast-iron fireplaces to first floor rooms, ground floor dining room now partitioned to create toilets. Rear door into yard widened and replaced, kitchen altered. Basement comprised of two small rooms.

HISTORY: The Gregson Memorial Institute was built by A P Fry who exhibited his designs for the building at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition in 1895. The hall was commissioned by Isabella Gregson in memory of her parents and other relatives including Matthew Gregson (believed to have possibly been Isabella's grandfather and who was a notable mid C19 civic figure and antiquarian in Liverpool) as an art gallery, museum and lecture rooms. The institute was constructed 'for the promotion of Literature and the Arts and Sciences'. Both the library and museum collections were given to the University of Liverpool in 1906 and subsequently transferred to the city museums and university in 1933. The building was leased to the Liverpool Education Authority in 1917 and was transferred to the City Corporation in 1936. It was then later sold to a charitable trust for a nominal sum of £5. The hall has most recently been used for community purposes including as a polling centre and community facility although it is now disused.

SOURCES: Pevsner N. 2006. The Buildings of England. Lancashire: Liverpool and the South West. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Background information to the Gregson Memorial Institute. Available on HTTP: http://sca.lib.liv.ac.uk/collections/colldescs/gregson.html

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Gregson Memorial Institute is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

* It is an interesting survival of a high quality, eclectically styled, small-scale late Victorian museum, art gallery and lecture rooms that was privately donated for the local community * It is unaltered externally and retains both its original floor plan and the majority of original interior features * The high quality interior is richly decorated with mosaic floors and colourful glazed tile ceilings and walls throughout, some incorporating Art Nouveau friezes. Of additional note is the survival of the main lecture hall with its barrel-vaulted ceiling, sloping floor, stage and elaborate wall decoration * The building's original function is clearly identifiable and readable within the building's architectural design and plan layout * Unusually the institute was commissioned by a woman, Isabella Gregson, at a time when most public benefactors were men * It has significant historic interest through its association with the Gregson family (an influential family of antiquarians and patrons in Liverpool) and references to their benefaction can be found throughout the building including carved door surrounds and mosaics incorporating the Gregson family members' initials.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

504783

Legacy System:

LBS

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