The Liverpool School for the Indigent Blind was founded in 1791 at 6 Commutation Row, opposite the potteries of Shaw's Brow (now William Brown Street), situated in two houses recently erected, rented by the charity for the sole use of the school by a group of eight men, including John Christie, a blind musician who became one of the school's first teachers, and William Roscoe and Edward Rushton who were both poets, writers and slavery abolitionists. Like Christie, Edward Rushton was also blind, a remarkable rights campaigner born in 1756 in Liverpool. He was apprenticed as a seaman to a firm of West India merchants aged eleven and by the age 18 was aboard his first, and last, ship transporting slaves from Africa, Opposed to the brutal treatment of the captured Africans he was accused of mutiny and contracted ophthalmia from the infected captives which blinded him. Realising the poor treatment and life chances of many less wealthy blind people, he founded the School to offer training and skills. The school was the first of its kind in Britain and the second in the world after the Institution Nationale des Jeunes Aveungles (National Institution for the Young Blind) in Paris, which was founded in 1785/6 by Valentin Hauy. The Paris Institute was also where Louis Braille (1809-1852) attended as a pupil and later as a teacher.
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| At the junction of London Road and Duncan Street |
The Liverpool School moved to purpose-built premises designed by John Foster Junior on London Road in 1800 on the future site of the Odeon Cinema. In 1806 the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and the Duke of Clarence (later William IV) visited Liverpool as guests of the Earl of Derby and during their stay paid a visit to the school where they were entertained by the choir. The prince was so impressed with the school that he agreed to become the school's patron, beginning the school's royal patronage and it subsequently became known as the Royal School for the Blind, Liverpool. In 1849 the L.N.W.R. agreed to exchange land they held in Hope Street and Hardman Street, plus the sum of £9,500 for the entire estate adjoining Lime Street Station owned by the school. The school then moved to the new building in Hardman Street, constructed in 1849-51 to the designs of Arthur Hill Holme at a cost of £11,650, and erected by his brother's construction company. The Hardman Street building originally was single-storey with a central two-storey pavilion but the wings were soon enlarged in matching style. The school provided its eighty-five pupils pupils with practical training in trades in order to equip them to be independent and self-supporting. These activities included spinning and basket making, worsted weaving, and music; the latter skill was taught to enable pupils to become music teachers, piano tuners or church organists. The school's technical function dictated its design, which included the provision of workshops, music rooms, dormitories, exercise yards and a rope walk. A shop was also provided near to the main entrance where the pupils' work was sold.
Educational reform, which culminated in the 1870 Education Act, led to the introduction of school inspections, which raised standards in education, accommodation and equipment. However, many schools were unable to meet these new standards; amongst them the Hardman Street premises, which were found to be lacking in their provision for young children. Consequently, thanks to Mary Louisa Hornby, who was a major benefactor, Wavertree Hall was purchased in Church Road, Wavertree with the original hall demolished and the new school opened in November 1898. Taking in children from the age of five to sixteen, they would then be transferred to the Hardman Street School for technical training. Further educational reform in the Twentieth Century Society, C20, led to additional changes at the school: following the Education Act of 1944, general education, which had previously been rather limited at the school, became compulsory and 'house craft' classes were introduced to teach the pupils about cookery, laundry, personal hygiene, and care of clothing.
Due to dwindling attendances and the Chapel having no parish of its own, it was decided to close the building in 1930, with its demolition later that year. The Doric front was saved and a new extension was designed in 1930-2 by Anthony Minoprio and Hugh Greville Spencely and added to the Hope Street corner of the building on the site of the demolished chapel opening in 1932. This provided additional work space, recreation rooms, offices and a sales shop for the goods manufactured by the students.
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| New Extension added in 1932 |
During the Second World War the school was evacuated to Rhyl in North Wales and the building was requisitioned by the RAF with part of the building also used by the Thames and Mersey Marine Insurance Company for the duration of the war. The Hardman Street School then became a technical college for the North West region for those aged sixteen to twenty-one. However the provision of vocational training was inadequate in keeping up with the times, consequently numbers dwindled leading to the closure of the establishment in 1957 and the school transferred completely to Wavertree where it still remains today.. The building was sold to Liverpool Corporation in 1959, who leased it to the City Police who used it as their headquarters until they moved to Canning Place in 1982. It was then used as the Merseyside Trade Union Community and Unemployed Resource Centre with facilities including conference and function rooms, a small theatre, lounge, bar and a basement recording studio. The centre closed in 2004 and the building incorporated the Flying Picket music venue. In 2015 it was refurbished and opened as the Old Blind School restaurant, but closed in June 2017. In April 2018 it reopened as The Florist restaurant.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/01/remembering-liverpool-structures-grand.html
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