34 Alexandra Drive, St Michael's, Liverpool

Summary

Villa, 1860s, extended and altered in the 1880s and 1890s for Richard Robertson Lockett with an interior decorative scheme by S J Waring & Sons, later used as a residential college and a nursing home. Further mid-C20 alterations.

Description

MATERIALS: cream and brown brick with pressed-brick, pink-sandstone and painted-stone dressings, slate roof coverings. Yellow brick to mid-late C20 elements and rebuilt sections.

PLAN: 34 Alexandra Drive is set on a substantial plot that extends south-west down to Aigburth Road and is bounded to the north-west and south-east by neighbouring properties. It has an irregular plan with a principal front elevation facing north-east onto Alexandra Drive.

EXTERIOR: 34 Alexandra Drive is a large structure mainly of two-storeys plus basement and an attic storey. Due to a sloping ground level on the site there is a full basement at the rear and basement wells at the front. The ground-floor windows retain their late-C19 sashes, leaded glazing, and casements (some with smashed glazing), but the upper floors have replaced uPVC glazing. Cast-iron rainwater goods survive with some decorative hoppers.

FRONT (NORTH-EAST) ELEVATION: the principal seven-bay front elevation highlights the evolution of the building in the C19 and C20. To the right is a wide twin-gabled two-bay section, all in cream brick and with shaped bargeboards to the attic gables, that forms the original 1860s part of the building and has ornamented late-C19 canted and box bay windows of painted stone to the ground floor (in December 2021 all the front ground-floor windows are covered up externally by metal sheeting but are visible internally) lighting a drawing room and paired windows to the upper floors; those to the first floor are set beneath shared relieving arches incorporating pink-sandstone voussoirs. The main entrance is located to the centre bay, which is a late-C19 addition and is set-back and rises above the roofline in the form of a tower with an additional storey. The entrance itself consists of a large ornamented flat-roofed painted-stone porch with a wide basket-arched doorway with integral fanlight flanked by engaged octagonal columns incorporating elaborate capitals and topped by a parapet with decorated panels. Recessed within the porch is a large four-panel door (boarded over externally) with glazed upper lights (glazing broken) and quatrefoil lower panels. The first and second floor behind and above the porch are in a darker cream brick, whilst the top floor of the tower has been rebuilt in a dark yellow brick; each floor has a single window, with that to the top floor incorporating a Gothic head with pink-sandstone and cream-brick voussoirs. To the left of the entrance bay are three bays added in the late C19 with a large two-light painted-stone bay window to the ground floor topped by a parapet with ball finials and flanked by tall windows with painted Gibbs-style surrounds and segmental-arched heads, all of which light a former billiards room. To the first floor are two sets of paired windows. The second floor appears to be a mid-C20 addition and is in dark yellow brick with four small windows. Set back to the far right of the elevation is a four-storey flat-roofed, mid-C20 bay, also in dark yellow brick with a doorway to the ground floor and single windows above. A painted-sandstone band runs across the entire elevation between the ground and first floors.

REAR (SOUTH-WEST) ELEVATION: the wide six-bay rear elevation faces south-west over the house's former gardens and is constructed of brown brick with pink-sandstone dressings in the form of window surrounds, sills and lintels, and stringcourses. It is composed of a series of projecting late-C19 polygonal bays of varying size that increase in width from right to left and rise from a full basement with single and paired windows and a series of doorways. Set to the right of centre is a flat-roofed, glazed-timber, winter-garden structure with a brick base partially carried over a basement entrance on slender cast-iron columns. The glazing has been removed, but the frames survive with taller lights set below upper lights with shaped heads. A doorway on its south-east return is accessed by a flight of brick and stone steps from the garden. The ground-floor windows to the neighbouring polygonal bays all have mullioned and transomed lights with leaded and stained glass (some damaged); two of the lights on the widest polygonal bay to the left have been converted into a doorway serving a metal fire escape stair (a further fire escape exists to the south-east side elevation). The upper-floor windows include single-light, mullioned, and mullioned and transomed windows. The polygonal bays have flat roofs and are topped by parapets, with some gables rising above and behind. Changes in brickwork at the south-east end of the elevation denote a later attic extension, constructed in similar style. The multi-pitched roof, which is largely hidden from view due to the height of the building, retains three substantial chimneybreasts and a large rooflight lighting the main stair.

INTERIOR: internally there are mainly parquet floors to the ground floor and floorboards to the upper floors (some hidden under later coverings), along with deep skirtings and moulded cornicing throughout. Ornately panelled doors survive on the ground floor, but some of the plainer panelled doors on the upper floors have been replaced with fire doors. The ground floor spaces, which retain much of the late-C19 SJ Waring & Sons interior decoration, have richly detailed mahogany woodwork and very high ceilings that decrease in height as you go up the building.

Entrance/stair hall: the entrance vestibule has a decorative patterned mosaic floor and a half-height dado with decorative geometric panelling topped by a modillion cornice. An elaborate tripartite doorcase containing a partly-glazed, panelled, round-headed door with flanking glazed side lights (all with broken glazing) leads through into an L-shaped entrance/stair hall, which continues the same dado panelling. The hall has a canted north-east corner where the dado incorporates a carved fireplace, which has been simplified from historic photographs through the removal of a low mirrored overmantle and carved reliefs on the jambs. The hall's late-C19 Jacobean-style relief-strapwork ceiling has been replaced with a plaster ceiling with lighter strapwork decoration. Encased ceiling support beams are heavily decorated and supported by brackets incorporating carved heads of a horned Bacchus. The entrance/stair hall was originally larger, but has since been split into two halves by a mid-late C20 partition screen inserted underneath one of the ceiling beams and a small modern lift; the rear section, which has modern tile floor coverings, provides access into the former sitting room, dining room and winter garden. The main stair and access into the mid-C20 extension are located at the north-west end of the hall, whilst at the south-east end is a tall round-arched doorway leading into the late-C19 extension and a hallway corridor accessing a former billiards room and Lockett's study. A former drawing room is located off the north corner of the hall at the front of the building.

Dining room: the entrance to the former dining room is formed of an elaborate full-height classical doorcase integral with the entrance/stair hall's panelled dado that incorporates fluted Ionic antae supporting an entablature and a round-headed opening containing geometric-panelled double doors with relief decoration and built-in multi-storey display cabinets to the doorway jambs with traceried glazed doors and velvet linings. The dining room is a large space with a deeply coved Jacobean-style pendant and strapwork-plaster ceiling, and panelled walls topped by a decorated entablature; the panelled walls incorporate a hidden doorway in the north-east wall that would have been for the servants' use. The room's floor is hidden by later tile coverings and to the north-west wall is a painted fireplace with a Tudor-arched opening and adorned with a coat of arms. In a historic photograph taken by Bedford Lemere & Co in 1896 the coat of arms bears the Lockett family's stag heads emblem in relief, but these have since been removed and replaced with the painted initials 'ASCH'. Paired pilasters flanking the fireplace have also been simplified from their original design into fluted pilasters and figurative carvings removed from the overmantle, possibly in the early C20.

Sitting room and winter garden: the former sitting room, which overlooks the rear grounds, has a timber fire surround to the north-west wall with paired columns and also has modern tile coverings laid on top of the original floor; the floor itself has partially collapsed (December 2021) due to fire damage. The room is also accessed off the rear section of the partitioned entrance/stair hall through a large opening supported by fluted Ionic antae. A narrower opening in the same style lies adjacent and leads into the former winter garden, which has been modernised and has a partially collapsed inserted suspended ceiling and a modern floor covering.

Drawing room: an elaborate doorcase to the north corner of the entrance/stair hall in similar style to that of the dining room, but without display cabinets to the jambs, leads into the former drawing room, which is a double-width room with a wide arched opening separating the two halves. It has elaborate Rococo-style decoration and plasterwork to the walls and ceiling and the parquet floor remains uncovered. Identical timber and marble fireplaces are arranged at each end of the room with mirror overmantles; the mirror to the south-east end has been broken.

Billiards room: the south-east corridor that branches off the entrance/stair hall has a parquet floor, low panelled dado, and doorways off to each side; that to the north-east side of the corridor is wider with geometric-patterned panelled double doors that lead into the former billiards room, which was latterly used as a bar/social room and has an inserted late-C20 bar counter and two seating platforms. The room has panelled walls, a strapwork plaster ceiling, and a built-in cue cupboard with panelled decoration incorporating depictions of the green man and Richard Lockett's initials 'RL' to the internal face of the left door, and the date '1890' to the right door. The room's late-C19 sash windows are visible and retain their leaded glazing. It has been suggested that an inglenook fireplace depicted in a historic photograph at the north-west end of the room possibly survives behind a stud wall, but this is unconfirmed.

Study: on the south-west side of the south-east corridor are two further doorways with geometric-panelled doors; that nearest the entrance hall leads into Richard Lockett's study, which has a Jacobean-style plaster ceiling, deep moulded cornice, and panelling to the underside of its bay window. The room contains a suite of built-in furniture, including cupboards, shelving, a drop-front desk, and an integral fireplace. The fireplace has a marble insert, tiled cheeks with embossed relief detail depicting Persian scenes, and built-in display shelves and cabinets to the jambs; the fireplace's overmantle depicted in a historic photograph has been removed. The desk, which is built into the same unit as the fireplace, has a decorative panelled front and fluted consoles, and retains its letter shelves, compartments, and leather writing pad. The built-in unit along the south-east wall retains its drawers, shelving and mixture of glazed and geometric-panelled cupboard doors, but has lost an upper display cabinet that sat on top. Adjacent to the study are gentlemen's toilets that would have served the billiards room and Lockett's study. Original late-C19 glazed-tile dados and quarry and monochrome-tiled flooring survives, along with original panelled doors to the stalls.

Main stair: the main stair, which is top lit by a large coffered skylight with Art Nouveau leaded glazing, is in two different styles, with a Jacobean-style balustrade to the lower flight rising from the ground floor, and a more classical appearance to the upper flights with a panelled closed string; the turned balusters have been removed to the upper flights, although some lie scattered (December 2021) in the hallway. The half-landings are lit by large windows (a large 12-light window to the first half-landing and a sash window with leaded and stained-glass margin lights to the second half-landing) and the second half-landing has a servant's cupboard off to one side with a ceramic sink and shelving. On the top landing is a mid-C20 partition wall with an internal two-light window inserted for fire-safety reasons.

Upper floors: the upper floors are plainer and have generally been modernised with rooms at the front of the building subdivided to create smaller bedrooms, but the larger rooms at the south-west rear retain their late-C19 configuration. Moulded door architraves survive, along with plain and decorative moulded cornicing, and picture rails, but built-in bedroom furniture by SJ Waring & Sons depicted in two historic photographs has been removed.

History

34 Alexandra Drive is believed to have been constructed in around the 1860s when Alexandra Drive was laid out and was orignally known as Enmore. The development of villas in and around Aigburth was stimulated by the laying out of Princes Park and Sefton Park in 1842-1843 and 1867-1872 respectively, as wealthy Liverpool merchant and shipowner families sought large plots on which to build, and pleasant surroundings away from the city centre.

Census information reveals that in 1871 the house was owned and occupied by Charles James Crosfield, a sugar refiner, and it is believed that the house was built for Crosfield. The original architect is unknown. Crosfield was Chairman of the Lancashire Sugar Refiners' Association and owned a sugar plantation in a village called Enmore on the coastal region of Guyana, which gave the house its name. The Enmore Sugar Estate remains in existence and is now (April 2022) owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

In the late 1870s the house was bought by Richard Robertson Lockett (1846-1905), senior partner in W & J Lockett, merchants and shipowners. W & J Lockett was founded in 1825 by John Hilton Lockett (1799-1873) who was subsequently joined in partnership by his brother William Jeffery Lockett. The business began as a wine importation, general merchant and shipping company trading with the East and West Indies, Australia and parts of South America. William retired in 1861 and in 1872 John made his nephew Richard Robertson Lockett (son of a third brother, Richard Johnson Lockett) partner. Richard Robertson's brothers W Jeffrey Lockett and George A Lockett were later also made partners. In the late C19 the firm strengthened its ties with South America and became one of the leading merchant firms associated with the nitrate industry. They also had interests in sugar plantations and cotton firms in Peru and Chile, and invested in railways, utilities and banking in South America. The firm remained in the family and continued in business until the mid-C20.

Richard Robertson Lockett extended the house a number of times and in the 1880s and 1890s he commissioned the interior decorators and cabinet makers S J Waring & Sons of Liverpool to redecorate, furnish and complete internal decorative schemes in the house. In 1891 and 1896 the interior was photographed by the architectural photographers Bedford Lemere & Co who had close associations with S J Waring & Sons.

Following Richard's death the house passed to his son and in 1947 the house was purchased by the Church of England and became the Josephine Butler Memorial House, which had previously been situated at Prince's Road and then Abercromby Square. The building was used as a residential college until the early 1970s when it was converted for use as a care home for residents with mental health needs known as the Josephine Butler Care Home. The home closed in around 2016.

Samuel James Waring (1838-1907) was the son of an Irish wholesale cabinet manufacturer who had settled in Liverpool in 1835. Samuel trained in his father's workshops and became a highly skilled craftsman and expert in furniture woods. Upon his father's death Samuel took control of the business and moved it towards the luxury market, naming it S J Waring & Sons. The firm of cabinet makers, upholsterers and interior decorators worked on commercial, civic and institutional projects, as well as domestic commissions, including for the American Vanderbilt and Searle families, English nobility, and Queen Victoria. In the 1880s Samuel James Waring established the Waring-White Building Company, a building firm that built Selfridges department store and The Ritz hotel in London, as well as the Ashton Memorial in Lancaster and Liverpool Corn Exchange. In 1897 S J Waring & Sons bought the struggling firm of Gillow & Co of Lancaster, furniture manufacturers, and formed the firm of Waring & Gillow, which exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1900 and opened a headquarters on Oxford Street in London in 1906, which remained until the 1970s. Amongst their interior decoration projects Waring & Gillow specialised in outfitting luxury yachts and ocean liners, including the HMY Victoria and Albert (1899), RMS Lusitania (1906), RMS Queen Mary (1934), and RMS Queen Elizabeth (1946). The firm of Waring & Gillow collapsed in 1931 and a new company under the same name was formed in 1932, and the firm eventually became concentrated on more mass-market wares. After the Second World War business decreased and in 1953 the struggling company was bought by Great Universal Stores and broken up. In 1980 Waring and Gillow joined with the cabinet making firm Maple & Co, to become Maple, Waring and Gillow, subsequently part of Allied Maples Group Ltd.

Reasons for Listing

34 Alexandra Drive, formerly known as Enmore, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* for the rare survival of extensive decorative schemes by S J Waring & Sons of the highest skilled craftmanship and materials, notably mahogany, which include the entrance and stair hall, dining room, drawing room, billiards room and study;

* the richly detailed schemes include wall panelling, fireplaces, ornate panelled doors and doorcases, main staircase and built-in furniture mostly with a C16 or Jacobean character, complimented by pendant and strapwork ceilings, with a delicate Rococo-style scheme to the drawing room;

* the villa is built in a Gothic Revival style, illustrating the fashionable architectural trends of this wealthy neighbourhood, a later-C19 makeover with good-quality bay windows, porch and billiard room extension relating to the later-C19 makeover by S J Waring & Sons.

Historic interest:
* the C19 firm of S J Waring & Sons (cabinet makers, upholsterers and interior decorators) catered for the luxury market and had an eminent client list, including Queen Victoria, English aristocracy and the American Vanderbilt and Searle families, subsequently forming the firm of Waring & Gillow in 1897 and also specialising in fitting out luxury yachts and ocean liners;

* the original naming of the villa after Enmore, the sugar plantation village Charles James Crosfield owned in Guyana, clearly demonstrates the close connection in historic Liverpool between fine architecture and hugely successful global mercantile interests closely linked with slave trading and associated trades;

* Richard Robertson Lockett, who commissioned S J Waring & Sons’ prestigious makeover of the villa, was senior partner in W & J Lockett, who notably had a leading mercantile interest with the Chilean nitrate industry, crucial to farming in this country in the late C19 being the main component of crop-improving fertilizers.

Group value:
* the villa has an architectural and functional group value with a number of nearby fashionable C19 villas, including Bark Hill, Holmefield, Sudley (now Sudley Museum and Art Gallery), Calderstones House, Kelton (House of Providence), Sandheys, Layfield House, Beechley and Holmstead, which together combine give the neighbourhood its distinctive historic character.

External Links

Historic England Listing

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.