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Flats
Liverpool was the first council in the country to build homes
for its inhabitants. The cellars and court
houses had been declared insanitary and had to be cleared.
The Council started to build flats to house these people and
the first, St.Martin's Cottages, was opened in 1869.
St.Martin's Cottages, Silvester Street
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Although called "cottages" these are not exactly how
you would imagine a cottage to look.
They were built in six blocks; five or three storeys
high and there were 123 "tenements" or flats. The sizes
of the flats varied - some had only a living room and
a bedroom, others had three bedrooms, although all the
rooms were small. Each flat also had its own toilet
and scullery.
Right: St.Martin's Cottages
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When they were built their new tenants thought that
they were "little palaces" compared with the conditions
they had lived in before.
Right: Map showing St.Martin's
Cottages, 1891.
In the 1960's there were plans to preserve this pioneering
example of public housing, but this came to nothing
and they were finally demolished in 1977.
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Victoria Square Dwellings
Victoria Square was the second block of tenements to be built
by Liverpool Corporation to rehouse people from the demolished
slums. They were built in five blocks of five storeys each around
a central square.
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Right: Map showing Victoria
Square, 1891.
There were 269 flats and 12 shops. Each varied in size
from just a single room to three bedroom flats. The
one-roomed tenement measured just 12 feet by 12 feet.
Sinks were provided on each landing and two toilets
were shared between two flats. There were also communal
laundry facilities.
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During the May Blitz in 1941 one of the blocks was severely
damaged and later knocked down. The remaining blocks were demolished
in the 1960's and the site is now part of the entrance to the
Kingsway (Wallasey) Tunnel.
Eldon
Street Dwellings, 1905. |
Eldon Street Dwellings
The flats built in Eldon Street were pioneering in a different
way. They were built of rubbish! Instead of using bricks
they were built of a mixture of cement and "clinker".
Clinker is what is left behind when rubbish has been burnt
in a "refuse destructor". This mixture was placed into
moulds to make the walls, floors and ceilings then everything
was put together on site. The system was devised by John
A Brodie, who was City Engineer for Liverpool at the time. |
Right: John Brodie, City Engineer,
1912.
It was estimated that they cost half as much to build
as a block using traditional construction methods, but
for various reasons no more were built in Liverpool.
A number of other tenement blocks were built before the
First World War stopped Council house building, at least
for a while. These included homes in Gildart's Gardens,
Shelley Street, Bevington Street and Sparling Street (links).
2895 homes were built to house people who had been moved
out of "insanitary" property in the central areas when
it was demolished.
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1920's to the 1950's
After the First World War the speed of building Council homes
got faster, this is reflected both in the building of estates
on the outskirts of the city (link) and in the number of blocks
of flats, many of which were built in the central areas. In
many cases the intention was that people from insanitary property
should be moved to new tenement buildings in the same neighbourhood.
Myrtle Gardens
One of the largest schemes was Myrtle Gardens, built in
1936 on the site of Liverpool Orphanage. This development
consisted of 344 homes and featured two children's playgrounds
and gardens. Access to the flats was via prominent stair
towers on the outside and balconies on each level. By
1982 the blocks were derelict and vandalised, but after
extensive repair were sold to private buyers. |
Myrtle
Gardens |
A number of other similar developments of large blocks of flats
were built in the 1930's. St.Andrew's Gardens, Copperas Hill,
was nicknamed the "Bull Ring", from its circular shape. These
flats have now been turned into student accommodation. Gerard
Gardens, near Byrom Street, were knocked down in the 1980's
and Council houses built on the site.
Multi-storey flats
Before the Second World War the maximum height of flats was
five storeys, but in the 1950's land available for building
was in short supply so the Council decided to find out about
building multi-storey blocks of flats. A group from of staff
was sent to look at buildings in New York. As a result work
started on Liverpool's first multi-storey block of flats, Coronation
Court on the Sparrow Hall estate.
Coronation
Court, 1957. |
This block was ten storeys high, 330 feet long, 100
feet high and consisted of 114 homes. All the flats were
centrally heated, with instant hot water. By 1965 79 blocks
of multi-storey flats, comprising 5,684 flats had been
built. At first people were delighted with their new homes
commenting on the wonderful views, the quiet and the sense
of space. However problems gradually became apparent.
People often felt isolated, with few near neighbours and
lifts broke down leaving people stranded in their homes.
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It soon became obvious that they were not suitable for young
families. Lack of security meant that there were problems with
persistent vandalism.
Multi-storey flats seemed to be the answer to the city's housing
problem, but their life span was less than those flats built
at the end of the nineteenth century and in the 1920's and 30's.
Many blocks were demolished or given different roles as, for
example, student accommodation.
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