28a-d Gateacre Brow – The Gateacre Society

A Brief History compiled for HERITAGE OPEN DAY
13th September 2003

In 1887 the plot of land on the corner of Sandfield Road and Gateacre Brow housed a smithy with dwelling-house above, plus a shop, yard, stable and wheelwright’s shop. The property – originally dating from before 1820 – had been owned and occupied by James Blundell, blacksmith, since 1847. When he died in 1859, his widow Margaret became the owner, and from 1870 to 1889 the smithy was run by her sons Joseph and George. Two years after her death it was sold by the Blundell family, for the sum of £580, to George Hunter Robertson: on 27th October 1887. He promptly pulled it down, and commissioned a young architect – Walter Aubrey Thomas – to design new premises for the site.

From 1888-1890 no occupiers’ names are shown in the Much Woolton Rates Book for the three small buildings, but in 1889 the owner is G.H. Robertson. No Rateable Value is shown, instead ‘void – pulled down’ is written. By 1891 there is a new ‘house and shop’ on the corner, with a Rateable Value assessed at £30 but no occupier listed. Another ‘house and shop’ next door (the one with the curved glass frontage) was occupied by James and Isaac Marsh, grocers – formerly of 10 Gateacre Brow – and had a Rateable Value of £34.

At that time George Hunter Robertson, born c.1837 was living at The Laurels (known to us as Gateacre Hall Hotel – the older Georgian part), in Halewood Road. He was a cotton broker and one of the people instrumental in setting up the first telephone exchange in Liverpool in 1879. About 1883 he had an exchange installed in Gateacre, in the chemists shop at 5 Gateacre Brow. By 1889 there were some 40 subscribers, and somewhere larger was required – so he had the new buildings opposite erected. The exchange was housed upstairs over the corner shop.

In the Much Woolton Local Board Minutes for 1889 we find that, on the 4th February, Walter Aubrey Thomas submitted plans and sections of two houses and shops, intended to be built for Mr Robertson. The Surveyor was instructed to return them for amendment, as they were not in accordance with the bye-laws as to setting back for a footway. On 28th February plans and sections from Mr Thomas were again submitted, and on the 4th March the Board received a letter from ‘Mr Thomas, architect’ objecting to the Committee not having yet approved the plans. It was, however, decided that the resolution of the Committee of the 4th February should be adhered to. There were two more letters from Mr Thomas – on the 21st March and the 25th March – and it was agreed that the matter be left in the hands of Mr Hill, Chairman of the Works Committee. As we hear no more, we presume that he got things sorted out.

Walter Aubrey Thomas (1859-1934) was trained in Liverpool by Francis Doyle – designer of the Royal Insurance Building, with the golden dome, on the corner of Dale Street and North John Street. Thomas set up on his own account, it is said, ‘early in his career’. He was to become one of the most successful architects in the city, particularly noted for his commercial buildings. When he was designing for Mr Robertson early in 1889 he was barely 30 and this is, by many years, the earliest of his buildings recorded.

The year before, in Chester, a black-and-white building designed by T.M. Lockwood was built at the junction of Bridge Street and Eastgate Street. The treatment of the corner oriel and its roof, and the gables on both the major and minor facades, have so many features in common with the Gateacre building that it seems certain that the young Thomas found inspiration in this topical design. He was building in what was at that time a country village of stone and brick, but in which the black-and-white idiom was becoming established: Church Cottages having been built in 1872 and the Black Bull refurbished in applied black-and-white treatment in about 1880. His half-timber design, over a base of the local red sandstone, with its striking and successful corner treatment, was a building of quality in 1889.

From 1894 onwards the owner of these two buildings was the National Telephone Co., but in 1900 they were bought by Parrs Bank who used the downstairs shop on the corner as a bank, opening two mornings a week. Upstairs was the telephone exchange, and this magneto exchange remained in use until 1946 when the automatic exchange was built and opened in Woolton Park. In 1919 the name of the bank was changed to London, County, Westminster and Parrs Bank Ltd, and in 1924 just Westminster Bank. In 1947 the Prudential Assurance Co. bought the building, and opened a branch office there in place of the bank. Next door (at No.28a) the grocers shop was run by the Marsh Brothers until 1921, when the business was bought by William Brooks & Co. Ltd. They continued here until the 1960s when it became a ladies fashion shop: ‘Harriet Stein’.

The whole building – officially numbered 28a-d Gateacre Brow – is nowadays the head office of Alan Hutchinson & Associates (trading as the Nationwide Group) who are specialist cleaning and asbestos removal contractors. Unfortunately this attractive and distinctive Grade II Listed building is constantly being hit by heavy vehicles negotiating the narrow entrance into Sandfield Road. The Gateacre Society regards it as most important that steps should be taken to avoid the risk of further damage, but the City Council has, as yet, been unable to offer a solution.

THE DECORATIVE PANELS

The exterior of 28a-d Gateacre Brow features a series of Biblical scenes moulded in plaster. These are said to have been cast from 17th century Flemish originals.

How many of the following can you spot?

NATIVITY WITH ASTROLOGERS CIRCUMCISION

GABRIEL AND MARY NATIVITY WITH SHEPHERDS

MOSES MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS