Listing Text

392/1/10286 PEMBROKE PLACE
04-APR-07 (North side)
29

II
Terraced house with shop. C 1820, with shop front of c1930.
EXTERIOR: three storey house faced in red/grey brick with sandstone lintels and parapet; slate roof. Two windows per floor, original sash windows replaced or blocked. Ground floor has a dark green tiled shop front with yellow lettering and decorative borders bearing the inscription P. GALKOFF FAMILY BUTCHER, and the Hebrew letters denoting Kosher status; central door flanked by large window openings to either side; egg and dart moulding to upper course. Extensions to rear.
INTERIOR: altered and in poor condition at time of inspection (2007). Tiled walls to ground floor former shop with remains of marble slab set into wall. Stairs damaged, but first floor retains Neoclassical plasterwork to front room. Unusual painted decoration to first floor stairs (in form of painted ashlar effect) and to first floor front room (in form of panels of riverbank scenes), probably Edwardian in date.
HISTORY: this was built as one of a row of five houses named Pembroke Place, set near the arterial road of London Road, and stood in the centre; its western neighbours were demolished in 1994. A clear building line separating this house from No 31 to the east shows that this house was constructed separately. This area became the centre of the Jewish community of Liverpool from the late C19, and in 1907 it was taken over by the Galkoff family, which remained here until 1991.
SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: listed principally for the survival of a nationally unique Jewish butcher's shop front, set within a late Georgian house: the explicit display of Hebrew lettering in such a context is very unusual and is an eloquent reflection of Jewish identity in Liverpool at this time. It is one of the last survivors of the initial late Georgian development of this area of Liverpool, along an important arterial road which has undergone considerable redevelopment. The internal survivals, particularly the painted decoration and plasterwork to the first floor front, are of some interest but the plan form and internal fixtures in general have been compromised.