Rodney Street, Liverpool Explained

Rodney Street
Location:Canning, Liverpool city centre
Coordinates:53.4018°N -2.9733°W
Construction Start Date:1783
Completion Date:1784

Rodney Street in Liverpool, England, is noted for the number of doctors who practise there and its Georgian architecture. It is sometimes referred to as the "Harley Street of the North". Together with Hope Street and Gambier Terrace it forms the Rodney Street conservation area. There are over 60 Grade II listed buildings on the street and one Grade II* former church.

History

Rodney Street was laid out in 1783 - 1784 by William Roscoe and others. It was named after George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, who, in 1782, secured a naval victory over the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes. It was developed piecemeal up to the 1820s with houses for the affluent, escaping the old town centre. A few houses have five bays, with central doors, but most are three bays. They were erected in pairs or short runs by different developers which led to an inconsistent roof line.

Sometimes referred to in local media as the "Harley Street of the North", some buildings on Rodney Street are now used by doctors conducting private clinics, notably for cosmetic surgery.[1]

Buildings

No. 9 was the birthplace of Arthur Clough, a poet born in 1819. No. 62 (built 1792 - 1793) was the birthplace in 1809 of William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on four separate occasions through the 1860s to the 1890s, and the home of his father John. No. 59 Rodney Street was home and studio to photographer Edward Chambré Hardman from 1947 to 1988,[2] and his wife, business partner and fellow photographer, Margaret Hardman until her death in 1969,[3] [4] and is now owned by the National Trust and open to the public. On the north side of Rodney Street stands the disused Scottish Presbyterian Church of Saint Andrew, built in 1823 - 1824. The body of the church is of a simple two-storey design with round arched windows and stuccoed walls designed by Daniel Stewart. The façade of blackened ashlar, designed by John Foster Jr., is an imposing composition of Ionic entrance columns, flanked by corner towers, topped with Corinthian columns and domes. In 2012, the former church was renovated and redeveloped to provide en suite student accommodation for 100 students.

Notable residents

See also

References

NotesCitations

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 10 May 2015 . Helen . Davies . 9 October 2018 . Why Liverpool's Rodney Street really is the Harley Street of the North . Liverpool Echo .
  2. Web site: The Hardmans' House - National Trust | Culture24. www.culture24.org.uk.
  3. News: Kennedy . Maev . Margaret Hardman: a forgotten Edwardian talent emerges . 3 March 2021 . . 14 March 2010 . en.
  4. News: Mistlin . Alex . Edward Chambré Hardman: National Trust in 'race against time' to save Liverpool photographer's archive . 3 March 2021 . . 3 March 2021 .
  5. The Gregson Syndicate https://visitlancaster.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Biographies-of-individuals-involved-in-the-Zong.pdf
  6. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20061109005341/http://www.mersey-gateway.org/chambrehardman/ . E. Chambré Hardman Studio, House & Photographic Collection . 2006-11-09 . Mersey Gateway.
  7. Liverpool Record Office Annual Report 2008-2009