Summary
Cricket club main pavilion. 1880 by Thomas Harnett Harrison for Liverpool Cricket Club, altered and extended around 1900, altered during C20. Large squash courts extension of the 1970s is not of special interest.
Reasons for Designation
The main pavilion of Liverpool Cricket Club, of 1880, by Thomas Harnett Harrison, with alterations and extensions of around 1900, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as a rare example of a pre-1914 cricket pavilion and the oldest surviving cricket pavilion in the country at a first-class cricket ground;
* as a large and substantially intact architect-designed cricket pavilion in a lively Vernacular Revival style with imaginative irregular massing incorporating gabled and half-hipped roofs and prominent brick chimneystacks;
* the brick building makes plentiful use of varied detailing, including decorative half-timbering and hung tiling at upper levels, panelled bargeboards and deep bracketed eaves, varied windows, including a notable full-height canted bay window with multi-pane timber frames and hung tiles, and small red roof tiles with bands of fish-scale tiles;
* the interior retains a legible layout incorporating a full-width first-floor former ballroom and former billiard room above, and fixtures and fittings, including staircases, a number of reeded door and window architraves, moulded cornices and partially visible roof trusses, as well as a large war memorial board.
Historic interest:
* Liverpool Cricket Club’s 1881 Aigburth grounds have a significant national and regional sporting legacy, used for first class and international cricket matches and also historically for football, hosting an international match between England and Ireland in 1883, alternately hosting the Northern Tennis Tournament with Manchester between 1882 and 1928, and providing pitches for Liverpool Rugby Club between 1884 and 1963.
History
Aigburth Cricket Ground has been home of Liverpool Cricket Club since 1881, with the opening match played on Saturday 30 April 1881 (Liverpool Daily Post, Monday 2 May 1881) and its maiden first-class cricket match hosted against Cambridge University on 13 and 14 June 1881; its first international match, against the Australians, was hosted in 1896. The Club spent £2,000 to purchase the site, which has a cricket pitch second in size only to the Oval, London, and a further £21,000 on the ground layout and pavilion. The latter was built in 1880 by the contractor Cubitts to designs by Liverpool architect Thomas Harnett Harrison (1843-1913). It is the oldest surviving pavilion at a first-class cricket ground. In April 1888 the Athletic News Supplement published a short piece on county cricket grounds, which included a sketch view of the pavilion. It shows a three-storey building with a large, projecting central half-hipped bay flanked by recessed wings with half-hipped roofs facing east and west, large chimney stacks, a second-floor balcony and a first-floor veranda with a tiered terrace in front overlooking the cricket pitch. Mention was made of the entrance lodge of “imposing appearance, and the ladies’ pavilion in the lawn tennis corner (which was) an additional charm to the ground”. The ground has always been used for a number of sports; from 1882 until 1928 it alternated with the Northern Tennis Club in Manchester as the venue for the annual Northern Tournament.
The 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1889-1891, published 1893, shows the pavilion and tiered terrace at the northern end of the rectangular site. It has a complex footprint, but the projecting central bay with bay window facing the road is discernible along with the western wing and a square projection in the angle between the two. Other buildings on the grounds included a U-shaped entrance lodge at the junction of Aigburth Road and Riversdale Road, an L-shaped steward’s lodge and glasshouses to the north of the main pavilion and a small, rectangular ladies’ pavilion to the east. At this time the grounds were also flanked by a small pavilion on one side and two tiered stands on the other side. A boundary wall was shown running alongside the north-east boundary next to Aigburth Road. The site was labelled Liverpool Cricket and Football Ground; in February 1883 it staged Liverpool’s first ever football international, England vs Ireland.
In 1899 the Liverpool Evening Express recorded the recent acquisition of a new piece of ground on the south side of the railway line at the southern end of the ground. In 1884 the Cricket Club had allowed Liverpool Rugby Club, the first ”open” rugby club in the world, to play in front of their newly-built pavilion at Aigburth and they subsequently used part of the acquired land, playing at the grounds until 1963.
Historic photographs of around 1900 show the original central ground-side bay of the pavilion was now flanked by two gabled bays and a full-height extension had been added at the eastern end, designed with a similar brick and half-timbered appearance. The balcony had an iron latticework floor-plane supported on circular cast-iron columns, with a timber balcony railing round with diagonal cross design. The tiered terrace had fold-up timber benches with a central flight of steps and outer flights of stairs with timber balustrades to both sides.
The footprint of the pavilion on the 1:2500 OS map surveyed in 1905 shows changes to the north-east, roadside elevation with the addition of the two-storey polygonal extension and the raised two-storey extension to either side of the central bay. The eastern end extension is also shown. Aigburth Road was dualled in front of the club grounds by 1924 to1925 and the original boundary wall was inset in line with the north-east outer wall of the steward’s lodge, with angled outer corners and continuing round onto the side roads. A bowling green was also laid out between the main pavilion and entrance lodge.
At an unknown date during the C20 the original pavilion balcony was replaced with a balcony with steel girder frame, concrete flooring slabs and steel railing. The veranda and tiered terrace were also replaced, with steel railings, concrete floor and tiering, and retaining brick balustrades to the outer steps.
In the 1970s the pavilion’s facilities were expanded with the addition of a large, flat-roofed, squash court extension (not of special interest) abutting the east corner and the south-west side of the steward’s lodge and projecting eastwards. The lodges were also both extended in the later C20. The pavilion and stands to the sides of the ground were removed.
The pavilion remains in use; the windows to the south-west main elevation have all been replaced or altered; the interior has been updated and refurbished to enable its use for functions.
Details
Cricket club main pavilion. 1880 by Thomas Harnett Harrison for Liverpool Cricket Club, altered and extended around 1900, altered during C20.
MATERIALS: the building is of red brick with decorative timber framing, hung tiles, and small red roof tiles.
PLAN: the three-storey pavilion is approximately rectangular with a projecting eastern wing, and, overlooking the ground (SW side), a second-floor balcony, first-floor veranda and tiered terrace. A large 1970s squash courts extension at the south-east end is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.
EXTERIOR: the pavilion is set parallel to Aigburth Road. It is built of mottled red brick in English garden wall bond (3:1) with a brick plinth and tall, rectangular brick stacks with circular pots, applied timber-framing decoration (painted green) and hung tiles to areas of the second floor and small red tiles to the roofs incorporating two wide horizontal bands of red fish-scale tiles.
The long three-storey, south-west elevation overlooks the pitch and ground. The second floor has a larger, half-hipped bay flanked by two gabled bays to the left and a wing to the right with a jettied gable at the right-hand outer corner. In front of the three left bays is a balcony which wraps round the left-hand outer corner, with a doorway in the set-back side elevation of a half-hipped bay fronting onto the north-west side elevation. The half-hipped second bay is part brick with a band of diagonally-set stretchers beneath a chamfered timber sill and applied decorative timber-framing above with a large, central uPVC-framed window incorporating glazed French doors opening onto the balcony (historic photographs show a five-light window with leaded upper panes), a jettied apex with shaped timber brackets, a central, circular clock, overhanging, panelled bargeboards and a shaped finial. The flanking gabled bays are brick with hung tiles above. Both have a large horizontal window with timber architrave with outer pilasters and a moulded cornice with a semi-circular window frame to the centre. Set in the architrave of the first bay is a three-light uPVC window frame, with a uPVC glazed door and two-light window frame in the third bay (historic photographs show five-light windows with a wider central light and leaded upper panes to the outer lights). There is a stack set back on the ridge of the first bay and a second, larger stack in the valley between the second and third bays. The balcony has a frame of bolted H-shaped girders with a floor of concrete slabs overlaid with timber floorboards and a bolted metal railing of square-section tubing with metal-strip diagonal crosses. The second floor of the wing is timber-framed with a timber sill, closely spaced vertical studs and an upper rail with timber pegging. The jettied gabled bay to the outer corner has a horizontal, five-light window with a timber frame.
The first floor is built of brick and partly faces onto the veranda, which also wraps round the left-hand outer corner; it is now boarded in to provide a storage area. The first bay has a wide boarded-up opening with a doorway to the right with a concrete lintel and a panelled and half-glazed door. The second bay has a long, horizontal window with uPVC frame and timber cladding above and below, with a similar, but narrower window in the third bay. The wing has a segmental-arched doorway to the left opening onto the veranda with a modern door with decorative glazing. To the right is a long, horizontal window with uPVC frame. The veranda has similar railings as the balcony, with a central flight of steps to the tiered terrace and outer steps down to the ground at each end with inner metal railings and outer brick and stone coped walls.
The ground floor is largely obscured by the terrace. At the right-hand end, beyond the veranda steps, is a wide opening with a timber lintel set on a wide, brick pilaster, now partially infilled with brick with a two-light timber casement window.
The long, irregular north-east elevation faces towards Aigburth Road. To the centre is a large, half-hipped bay with a shallow, full-height canted bay window, decorative brick ground- and first-floor lintel bands and timber-framing to the second floor with overhanging, panelled bargeboards, deep, bracketed eaves and a shaped finial. The bay window has tiling bands at the floor levels and multi-paned timber frames with a few leaded upper panes remaining. Overlapping the left-hand corner is a projecting two-storey extension of brick and timber framing with a red tiled roof, raised on square timber posts at ground-floor level. The brick first floor has a vertical timber casement window (now with an inserted ventilator) set to the right-hand side. The pegged, timber-framed second floor has a timber sill and mid rail and closely spaced vertical studs. It incorporates a gable at the right-hand end with a timber-framed double sash window with leaded upper panes and overhanging bargeboards. There is a tall stack to the front roof pitch. At ground-floor level under the extension is a window to the right and doorway to the left. Abutting the left-hand corner is the 1970s brick and flat-roofed squash court extension*, which is excluded from the listing. The right-hand return of the central bay has a segmental-arched window with a stone sill and multi-paned timber frame on the first floor. To the right of the central bay are two stepped, recessed bays across which the lintel bands continue. The narrow abutting bay is gabled with a timber-framed second floor with a dropped, timber-framed window with leaded upper panes, panelled bargeboards and bracketed eaves. The brick ground and first floors both have a segmental-arched window with stone sill and timber frame with leaded upper panes. In the roof valley to the left is a large brick stack. The recessed right-hand bay has a projecting, polygonal two-storey extension and a large stair window on the second floor with timber frame and leaded upper panes, a timber-framed gablet over and deep, bracketed eaves. The polygonal brick extension has a decorative band between ground and first floors, moulded eaves and a brick parapet. The outermost plane has a segmental-arched window on the ground floor with stone sill and multi-pane timber frame. Above is a square-headed window with two similar, narrower windows in the flanking angled planes, all with timber sashes with a multi-light timber frame with leaded upper panes.
The north-west side elevation has a central, projecting, half-hipped bay of brick with timber framing to the apex, panelled bargeboards and bracketed eaves. On the ground floor is a porch of shaped timber posts and braces set on a stone plinth and supporting a red tiled, lean-to roof. The wide, central doorway has a worn stone step and is flanking by two narrow vertical windows. High on the first floor is row of single-light windows (now blocked) with a red tiled canopy on shaped timber brackets. The second floor has a blind arcade with brick nogging, a small, horizontal row of timber-framed windows above and a jettied apex. Recessed on the left-hand side is the polygonal extension with a segmental-arched window on the ground floor and square-headed window on the first floor, both with multi-pane timber frames with leaded upper panes to the first-floor window. Recessed on the right-hand side is the return elevation of the long south-west side with the balcony on the second floor and the veranda on the first floor. The boarded-in veranda has a short stretch of the original timber railing remaining. On the ground floor is a canted bay window with a brick base, stone sill, timber window framing and felted roof. Projecting at the outer, right-hand corner is the tiered terrace.
The ground floor of the south-east side elevation is obscured by a modern, flat-roofed extension. Above, the end wall of the wing has a central, slightly projecting chimney with decorative diaper pattern beneath the eaves, flanked by small windows, and a tall stack abutting a tile-hung gablet. To the left the second floor has timber framing with brick on the first floor with a narrow, single-light window. To the right is brick with a similar first-floor window. The first floor continues to the right with a lean-to red tile roof and is abutted by the squash court extension. Set back behind the lean-to roof is a half-hipped bay with timber-framing to the second floor incorporating a large, multi-pane window, with panelled bargeboards and a finial.
INTERIOR: the general layout of the building remains, although there has been some opening up of smaller rooms to provide larger spaces and to link the earlier building with the 1970s squash court extension (the 1970s extension is excluded from the listing). The central bay with the full-height canted bay window has a full-width ballroom, now function room, on the first floor with a full-width former billiards room above on the second floor, now part of the changing rooms, and a large room on the ground floor. On the north-west side is a long stair hall which can be entered via the external doorway in the porch or from within the building. It contains a full-height, open-well staircase with floor landings and a swept timber handrail, square timber balusters, a square, moulded newel post with squared finial and shaped curtail step. The first-floor stair window on the north-east side is blocked by the polygonal extension (the first-floor committee room in the extension is named in commemoration of Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse VC, the most highly decorated British soldier of the First World War). There is a second, smaller staircase between the first and second floors on the south-east side of the building. It has a ramped timber handrail, square timer balusters and turned and moulded newel posts with ball finials. At a lower level there is a later-C20 staircase with square metal tube and timber board balustrades and a ground-floor stair hall containing the timber war memorial board commemorating those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. The first-floor lounge in the south corner contains a timber board listing presidents and captains.
Partial roof trusses with butt purlins to each side and bolted metal strengthening straps are visible in the former billiards room. The second floor of the eastern wing has two similarly strengthened trusses, with arched braces beneath. A number of doorways have reeded architraves, but doors have been replaced, and the original windows on the north-east side also have reeded architraves. There are moulded cornices to a number of first-floor rooms.
Elsewhere the building has been extensively refurbished and original fixtures and fittings, including fireplaces, have been removed.
* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 199- ("the Act") it is declared that the aforementioned squash court extension is not of special architectural or historic interest, however any works which have a potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.
