Does anyone know what this building was used for originally. Ron Formby of the Scottie Press is interested in the mosaics on the entrance floor which seem to be a thistle or similar. It has just opened as 'The Italian Club' cafe.
Thank ye.
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Does anyone know what this building was used for originally. Ron Formby of the Scottie Press is interested in the mosaics on the entrance floor which seem to be a thistle or similar. It has just opened as 'The Italian Club' cafe.
Thank ye.
Here's one of Ron's pics. It's driving me mad that I can't place where it is. Ged mate, is it anywhere near to the bookshop that has your display in the window?
http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/thistle.jpg
Dave, it's opposite News from Nowhere and up a few doors facing the fruit stalls.
Phil. Ron reckons Gill and Colley (est 1901) were a Scottish Co. Shown on your 1936 register (thanks for that) If they were in that building in 1901 it is possible that the Liverpool Italians would have done that mosaic, I think that's what he's trying to find out.
Hi Ged
1911 directory listing is 85 Bold St -Campbell P&P the Perth Dye Works
Ged, check your inbox mate. Ron's just sent us a piccie:PDT11
http://www.promspics.co.uk/eyetie.jpg
Hi Ged, Dave, et al.
Dave has helpfully started a Liverpool mosaics thread. I am trying to ascertain whether it was Frank Murray responsible for the Castle Street mural of shipping on the former British and Foreign Marine Insurance Company Building or whether as the Scottie Press Little Italy site says, it was the Salviati company of Venice.
Chris
Hiya Mandy, Dave, Chris.
Mandy, thanks for that - the Scottish connection is there then even in 1911.
Dave, yes got that but I knew you'd post it up (your pics look better than mine even when your just forwarding someone else's on ha ha) I didn't wanna hog the thread.
Chris. I'm googling. Some interesting stuff but haven't come up with any answers yet, keeps referring me back to the scottie press lol.
Hi Chris, I know this sounds daft, but I wonder if "Frank Murray 1889" which is on the mosaic, simply graffiti? The person over at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/place/lpoolth.htm may have presumed it was the artist's name......and soft ollies here perpetuates the myth by posting it on Yo:unibrow:
Hi Dave
Your photo as shown below does appear to show that the name is actually on the picture itself and looks to be a period inscription. Again, it could be that the Italian company provided the glass, since they did make other glass things, and that Mr. Murray did the design, although we might need further information to confirm that. Frank Murray was a British artist who lived from 1848 to 1920 and was responsible for other maritime related works are similar to the design of the mosaic. (See http://www.artnet.com/Artists/LotDet...1F16FF31DC53A3)
Chris
Chris
Joseph Sharples makes everything clear.
In his words:
"The former British & Foreign Marine Insurance Co., 1888-90, by Grayson & Ould. Red brick with red sandstone and terracotta. Mosaic frieze above the first floor with shipping scenes, designed by Frank Murray and made by Salviati."
Had a look at the building yesterday.
It's obviously one of the original buildings in Bold Street and would have been a house (possibly late 18th century) before conversion into a shop.
Assuming the shop front is original, I would hazard a guess at late 19th century (but it's only a guess).
The Gore's directories of the time will reveal the occupants of the building, but not knowing the actual date of the shop front, you'd probably have to search a lot of directories, and even then there's no guarantee you'd arrive at the right answer.
Sorry to be so negative, but research is difficult sometimes.
Having said all that, the present occupiers might have the deeds, which should help with the history.
We're gathering stories about Bold Street for an upcoming project 'The Bold Street Project" which will culminate in an exhibition in the Media Lounge at FACT (Wood Street, Liverpool) from 30th June 2007.
The project has a blog where we're discussing our work in progress and research, and as from today we have a video podcast available via iTunes. (Check out John and Laura's Video Diaries).
Were hoping to gather archive footage, old photos, new photos and new art from anyone who wants to contribute. We're using Flickr.com to share our images and create a growing network of Liverpool artists and photographers.
Highlights include a new film by Kim Ryan "The Bolder They Walk", and archive photographs from E. Chambre Hardman.
Check out the Blog: http://www.boldstreet.org.uk/blog/
Check out our Photos on Flickr.
Check out our films on Youtube.
And our podcast.
And please.... we'd love to hear more Bold Street stories, especially of the ghostly / Bold Street 'Time Slip' variety!
Hi Katie
The best of luck with your project. Bold Street is interesting in that it has the Lyceum, one of Liverpool's most significant buildings, at its western end, and St. Luke's Church, also a significant building, made more so because of its bombed out aspect, at its other end. And then of course all of the addresses in between the two which have had different uses over the years, initially as a residential street when the street was laid out in the 1780's and later, in the nineteenth up to the twenty-first centures as one of Liverpool's premier shopping and retail streets.
The original use of the area as a ropewalk is also interesting, given the link with Liverpool's maritime past and the need for ropes for the ships. The fact that the street is named after Jonas Bold, a prominent slave merchant, is counterbalanced by the foundation of the Lyceum which was established as a reading room for abolitionists such as William Roscoe who wanted somewhere to meet instead of the coffee houses frequented by the slave traders. This well points up the dichotomy of Liverpool that, yes, it prospered from the slave trade but there were leading figures such as Roscoe, a literary man who wrote the narrative poem "The Wrongs of Africa" to protest the Slave Trade and who as a Member of Parliament for Liverpool also spoke out against the trade.
I wonder too if you might be able to refer in your history to the Lyceum Press situated in Hanover Street, which published two significant books, an edition of John Milton's Paradise Lost with illustrations by William Blake which did not appear in any published edition of Milton's great poem until this 1906 Lyceum Press edition, and a two-volume history of the Royal Marines by Cyril Field, Britain's Sea Soldiers: A History of the Royal Marines & Their Predecessors, which the press put out in 1924, and which is heavily cited on the Internet and in military histories.
All the best
Chris
Hiya Katie,
how's things? I'm hoping to shoot up to Liverpool in the morning, so I'll give your Ben a call. Will you be in FACT tomorrow? If you are, I'll drop off a CD with a load of images of the Bold Street area.
Cheers,
Dave
Katie, here's a pic of your place:PDT11
http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/fact.jpg
Katie, if you go on the Scottie Press website, Ron tells me Laura has already contacted him, you may know about the above pavement artist who was born in Fontenoy Street and who did most of his work in Bold st. He then taken to the U.S. by his brother and guardian whereby his work was recognised and used in Edgar Allen Poe's the Raven. His work is in the Poe museum. He came back to Liverpool and died penniless and is buried in a paupers grave in Walton. www.scottiepress.org
A FASHION chain famed for attracting queues of scantily-clad shoppers is to open a new branch in Liverpool city centre.
Brixton firm Joy, described as an urban outfitter, will open its 25th branch in mid-November in the historic Lyceum building on Bold Street, taking over the area previously used as the post office.
Shopfitters are currently working at the building to prepare the store for its opening.
Joy has attracted publicity by offering free outfits of clothing to the first 25 people in their opening day queues who wear just their underwear. :shock:
more
Any Bold Street pictures for this thread?
Cheers :PDT11
Nice photo Phil. That's one of the nicest views I've seen of Bold st - the buildings on the left and the church at the top - looks very nice. :)
Thanks Philip :PDT11
One image from there sticks in my mind, it had just stopped raining and Bold St, the buildings and all the people were damp and dark and soggy but the church at the end was illuminated in the sunshine - it looked tremendous, I wished I'd had my camera :rolleyes:
The best I have seen. Pre WW2 Source LCC.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../ECH110569.jpg
That's my humble photo. Taken on a deserted sunday morning with the cathedral having a nose in the background:
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...6/114_1471.jpg
I can't go back before the War, but this is from 1982, when I was still taking photos in B & W, just before I went over to colour.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/3...0ce080ba_o.jpg
You could if you really tried Philip :) Great pics everyone.