AYMESTREY COURT (continued)
Mr Robinson built the lodge at Aymestrey Court in 1884, a splendid billiard room (a status symbol of the time) in 1887 and added a large extension to the house itself in 1891.

From 1894, when the Robinsons moved to Upton Manor, Wirral till 1902 the property was occupied by Charles H. Hollins, cotton broker, and from 1903-1908 by the family of H.A. Watson, mineral and metal broker while it continued to remain in Robinson ownership. In 1924 it was sold for £2,500 by the Trustees - then Mrs Robinson, Claude and Henry her two sons and Ernest Gossage - to John Hinshaw, cotton broker who had been a tenant there since 1909. Mr Hinshaw died a year later leaving his daughter Miss Ella Buchanan Hinshaw who continued living in the house until 1943.

After being empty for a year or so the property was bought by the Liverpool Corporation in 1946 for £2,000 and became the school it is today.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTIONS: From the above we can identify and date stages in the buildings :-

First - the main block, built 1881-2 for Henry Tate (for his daughter). Architect unknown. A red-pressed brick 3 storey building with stone dressings and red-tiled roof; bold and with its heavy broad bays rather coarse. Its style carries a lingering whiff of 'High Victorianism' (period 1850-75). Inside there is a 'Jacobethan' fireplace in the Entrance Hall, very convincing in the crudity of the figures, but clearly Victorian because of the sunflower motif repeated with variations in the panels.

Second - The Lodge and Coach House, dated 1884, built for the Robinsons. This shows that subtle combination of materials - hand-made brick, half timbering, stucco & tile hanging, all ingredients of the Vernacular Revival and so beloved of the Victorian domestic architect. This block is the most satisfactory of the complex.

Third - the Billiard Room, dated 1887 and signed H.J.R., on an upper level, so that the Gentlemen could withdraw to smoke & play.

Fourth - the extension to the house, dated 1891, so much more refined & sensitive than the main block, built in a golden age for domestic building in England - Architect also unknown. A pedestrian work, but interesting because of the two styles.

continued . . .