Liverpool Communities - Greek

 

The Liverpool Greek community dates back over 200 years when refugees from Chios, an island just off the coast of Turkey, fled after the massacre of Greeks by Turks in 1821, and were among the original Greek people to settle in Liverpool. George Papayanni, a Greek emigre merchant, and Pierre Mussabini, his Turkish partner, had moved from London to Liverpool in 1844, considering it to be a better centre for the Mediterranean trade. George was the founder of the Papayanni Steamship Company, a subsidiary of  the Liverpool-based Ellerman Lines which became one of the largest shipping firms in the world. By the late 19th century, among foreign merchants, the Greeks occupied a prominent and important place as gentlemen of position, wealth and intelligence. Five shipping lines exported to Greece and goods destined for Greece passed through the Liverpool docks, where many Greeks worked as seamen and dockers.  On their return, the ships brought cargoes of fruit, oil, vegetables and wine from Greece and the Middle East. Significant numbers also came to work for the Ralli Brothers who recruited 40,000 Greeks in cities worldwide including New York City, Geneva and Liverpool.

Before 1870, the Greek community had no public place of worship, assembling for services in a house in Sandon terrace. The Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas was built 1870 in the Byzantine style, with Henry Summes the master builder, and consecrated in 1871. It is now a Grade II Listed building, one of only four purpose-built Greek Orthodox churches in the UK and was the second purpose built Greek Orthodox Church in England. George Michael Papayannis was the first President of the Liverpool Greek Community and in 1867 organised a loan to fund the construction of the church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of families, children and seamen. Now the only orthodox church in Liverpool, this iconic Berkley Street building, at the start of Princes Avenue in Toxteth, has served the city's eastern orthodox congregation ever since. The Greek merchants who came to Liverpool in the 19th century and built the church were attracted to the city by the huge industrial growth of the city during the Victorian era. With many of their business based at the nearby docks, the merchants chose to make home in what has long been one of Liverpool's most multi-cultural areas and constructed their church amidst other iconic places of worship in the heart of L8. The building's architecture was inspired by the Greek Orthodox tradition and has a row of three domes on the portico, and a fourth dome over the nave, all raised on drums. It is typical of Eastern Greek Orthodox churches with the church itself based on the design of the former Church of St. Theodorus, in Istanbul, which is now known as the Vefa Mosque. Both share a distinctive, layered red and white exterior - although St. Nicholas is a much bigger church than the building it was based on. Its red and white exterior made from alternating red brick and white stone, and its unusual geometric arches, make it one of the most distinctive and easily recognisable buildings along Princes Avenue, a beautiful South Liverpool boulevard steeped in architectural history. The interior, however, with white marble columns and Byzantine capitals, is surprisingly plain compared with the exterior but is full of ornate features, beautiful marbled archways and a special wall of icons - images of saints in gilded portraits that have a particular significance to followers.

The Oratory, built in the style of a Greek Doric temple, is one of the lesser known buildings in the city and is the old chapel of St James' cemetery, which was situated in an old quarry below that is now a public park. It was built in the Greek revival style, inspired by the buildings of Ancient Greece. These were characteristically severe and solemn, unlike their richly decorated Roman counterparts. Like many architects of his time, architect John Foster Jr travelled to Greece to study the ancient ruins and worked on the excavation of a couple of major Greek sites. He was a leading local figure in the Greek revivalist movement and designed several buildings around Liverpool, few of which now remain, most notably the old Customs House. Certainly to look up at the Oratory from the old St James' burial ground below, seeing it sat high above on its rocky outcrop, severe and highly reminiscent of an ancient Greek temple, it is easy to see the influence that buildings like the Parthenon had upon Foster and his work. James Picton writing about the Greek Revival in Liverpool said, "Greek architecture was adopted in all possible and some almost impossible situations. Shop fronts, porticos of dwelling houses, banks, gin palaces – everything was to be modelled from the Parthenon…"

The Greek school of St. Nicholas was established around 1968 by parents/members of the Greek and Greek - Cypriot community of Merseyside and North Wales and it is part of the group of schools under the Central Educational Council of Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Their vision was to establish an educational setting that will support children and adults to learn the Greek language and heritage. Its name illustrates the fact that the school is an integral part of the Greek and Greek - Cypriot Community of Liverpool, Merseyside and North Wales. A group named the Liverpool Greek Society was established in 1996. Today there are estimated to be 2,500 Greek Cypriots in the Merseyside area whilst 3,000 Greeks are estimated to live to the west of the River Mersey in the Wirral area, Chester and North Wales. Their impact on the restaurant scene in Liverpool has been considerable. For students in the city in the late 1960s, the Kebab House, established in 1968, was a place to eat wonderful food cheaply. It began life in a family house on Windsor Street, before moving to much larger premises in Hardman Street a decade later. Currently the authentic Greek restaurant, the Greek Taverna on Bold Street, receives 5 star ratings across the board. The Liverpool Cypriot and Greek Community Centre is based in Stafford Street, L3. 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/02/liverpool-communities-chinese.html