Remembering Liverpool Structures - The Sailors' Home

In the 1830s the port of Liverpool expanded and by the 1840s it had become well-established as one of the busiest ports in the world, and both local and foreign sailors were an everyday presence on the streets around the docks. It was recognised that merchant seamen arriving with a full money-belt needed protection from exploitation as many had no fixed abode and sailors often slept rough or essentially lived in the city's many pubs whilst on shore. The Liverpool Sailors' Home project was launched at a public meeting called by Liverpool's Mayor in October 1844. The need for it had been identified to not only provide safe board and lodging but also act as a bank, provide medical facilities and have a register of good character which allowed ship owners to find suitable crewman. Liverpool based architect John Cunningham was involved with the project from the institution's inception, having been appointed architect of the building in 1844 even before land for it had been secured. He worked closely with foundry owner Henry Pooley Junior on the designs of the iron-work such as the entrance gates to the Sailors' Home which were elaborate decorative pieces of ironwork which served the dual purpose of protecting the Savings Bank and keeping out seamen who might wish to gain entry to the Home after the strict 10 pm curfew. An ornamental stone over-throw, with its magnificent Liver Bird, was installed to prevent sailors from climbing over the gates after curfew and spikes, frowned on by the Committee, were also fixed to the top of the original gates which also supported the stone work of the entrance arch, which appears to have had a structural weakness. The Sailor's Home was created in the neo-Elizabethan Tudor style, an eccentric building, modelled on an Elizabethan mansion. 

The foundation stone of the Home in Canning Place was laid by Prince Albert in 1846 to the cheers of enthusiastic crowds, it being the highlight of his royal visit to Liverpool in 1846. The building though did not open to boarders until December 1852 after the massive sliding gates with their design of mermaids and ropes were installed and the heating systems and fireplaces were completed. The wrought iron gates were extremely heavy and difficult to move and were not properly fixed to the stone archway. As a result, people had to use all their strength to force the gates open, and many times this inadvertently loosed the gates from the archway. In their time, the gates would be responsible for the deaths of two people, falling over and killing a middle-aged woman and a policeman on separate occasions in the 19th century. Inside, the hall could accommodate 500 men in its wooden cabins, which were modelled upon ship's quarters, and were arranged on six floors overlooking a central hall. One sailor remembered that "the price was four shillings a night for bed and breakfast for men, Boys were about three shillings. It was just a bare cabin with wooden panels, painted green on the walls, iron framed bed and a chest of drawers. a communal bathroom and toilets."

Each gallery had ornamental cast-iron railing decorated in alternate layers with rope-work or mermaids. The Home provided a vital service in introducing professional, experienced merchant seamen to captains of safe seaworthy vessels.The big, open ground floor was known as 'The Pool' and here, seafarers would be selected by company representatives and if they were deemed worthy, would be taken into an adjacent room filled with long counters, each one labelled either 'Firemen' or 'Catering' or 'Deck'. Company men behind each desk would allocate jobs for their respective shipboard departments.
It provided a refuge for many famous mariners, such as Titanic's Captain Smith when he first came to Liverpool as a young apprentice in the 1860s.

For young apprentices and midshipmen, the Home also provided practical support with the Sailors' Home Outfitters able to provide uniforms for cadets on the training ships or replacement uniforms/clothes to any seafarers down on their luck. This combined with the expansions of its docks, greatly improved the reputation and efficiency of Liverpool as a merchant port. The Home was not a religious institution and always welcomed foreign seamen who may have met prejudice from lodging houses. Mariners from across the world, stayed there for varying lengths of time, found companionship, and a willing team of shipmates to go on various pub crawls across the city. However it also came under criticism as alcohol became a defining aspect of the Home, for both good and ill. For high-minded Victorians, it became associated with immorality and drunkenness. The completed structure  proved to be a stunning landmark for decades, even in a city then renowned for its impressive architecture.

In April 1860 there was a disastrous fire which caused the building to be closed for two years while the interior was rebuilt under the direction of Pooley and Cunningham. The building also survived relatively unscathed from German bombs during the Blitz in World War Two but as part of the repair to War Damage it was decided to remove the gates. These had been  made at Henry Pooley & Son's Albion Foundry (where the Queensway Tunnel entrance now stands). On March the 25th 1948, W & T Avery, who had swallowed-up Pooley and Sons, were offered the gates by the Sailors' Home Committee and on May the 18th, 1949 Avery's made an offer of 50 guineas for the gates, which was accepted on the 3rd of May 1951.  

By the 1960s, shipping in Liverpool had changed and the port's docks were now much further north and consequently far away from Paradise Street and Canning Place. The Sailors' Home became ever more dated and obsolete and finally closed its doors in 1969. The Home stood empty from 1969 but several artefacts were preserved after the building was demolished in 1974 when a salvage operation was mounted by Liverpool Museums' staff and volunteers from the Liverpool University Architectural Department under the leadership of musician, journalist and collector Fritz Spiegl. Two complete cabins, the gilded sign and remaining ornamental railings were removed. From 1975 to 2006 all that existed was a hole in the ground left by the cellars of the home and a set of carved sandstone blocks. It wasn't until the Liverpool One project started, and the site was to be used for the John Lewis building, that contractors spotted the Liver Bird carving and removed it to safety. This intricate piece of work was carefully restored at the Conservation Centre and is now displayed at the new Museum of Liverpool.

Where it would stand today

In March 2011 Officers at Sandwell Council approved an application to have the Sailors' Home Gates relocated to Liverpool as they felt the gates would have more significance to the community in their home city rather than in Sandwell. After restoration the gates were returned to Liverpool on the 8th of August 2011 and were re-erected under the name 'The Sailors Home Gateway' in the pedestrian section of Paradise Street in Liverpool One, close to the original site of the Sailors' Home.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/10/remembering-liverpool-structures-goree.html