SAVE Britain’s Heritage is an independent charity that campaigns to bring new life to threatened historic buildings of all types and ages. We do this through the media, the planning system and, where necessary, the courts – in collaboration with local groups and others across the UK, to stop the wasteful demolition of historic buildings and campaign for opportunities for their reuse.
Sewn into Liverpool’s historic fabric district are a number of distinctive buildings ready, with the right opportunity, to support the area’s wider regeneration.
SAVE’s recent involvement with two characterful buildings on London Road has uncovered new aspects of the area’s thriving commercial past and highlighted the challenges that are facing Liverpool’s buildings at risk.
These two buildings, the former Liverpool Furnishing Company Showroom (104–106 London Road) and former Boots the Chemist (11-13 London Road), were brought to our attention by the Fabric District CIC. In both cases, SAVE got involved to submit a bid to list them to Historic England, the government’s advisors on heritage, as we felt these buildings deserved to be celebrated and protected through listed status and national recognition. Working with Liverpool planning and tourism expert, Jonathan Brown, we explored in detail the history and architecture of these two buildings, which have been otherwise overlooked and uncared for.
The Liverpool Furnishing Company Showroom is a sophisticated corner building, with a landmark quality bestowed by its head-turning clock tower. Richly ornamented red terracotta facades still see it stand out proudly on London Road, despite over a decade of vacancy, deterioration, and plants taking root. Designed by local architects, W Hesketh and Co, for Jacob Lipson, the building opened in 1900 as a showroom for the furnishing company, before being converted to a bank. In recognition of the building’s clear architectural merit, it was successfully awarded Grade II listed status in 2023.
The furniture showroom is intimately woven into the area’s history. This was a place where textile businesses and furniture manufacturing thrived, but also where migrants settled and worked in the early twentieth century – Lipson was himself Polish-born.
Yet for years, the building continued to suffer from a lack of maintenance and investment, which we monitored through our Buildings at Risk Register. Only now has a new hope emerged, as plans for its restoration and conversion into a hotel have been recently approved. We hope that a sensitive scheme will be a catalyst for regeneration in the area, which is key for another building just down the road.
11-13 London Road is a significant survival story of Victorian retail history. When we put in an application to list the building late last year, we were struck by its claim to be one of the earliest purpose-built stores for Boots the chemist, dating to 1896.
Our research established a remarkable lineage for the building, finding that the monogrammed storefront may be the oldest surviving expression of the famous cursive “Boots” logo. In our report, submitted to Historic England, the building is highlighted as the ‘founding example’ for a bespoke built identity for the high street giant – an identity which is still instantly familiar, even today. The architect, A. N. Bromley, went on to design some of Boots’ most architecturally accomplished buildings, such as the grade-II* listed flagship store on Pelham Street (1902-5) and the grade-II listed former Boots shop “The Embankment” (1905-7), both in Nottingham.
We believe that this building deserves to be recognised nationally for its place in the history of our high streets. There is a high bar for adding buildings to the statutory list; only 400,000 places in the UK can boast this status. It is an important tool for celebrating our unique built heritage, and for protecting it to help ensure that future change is sympathetic to what makes these places so special. We await a decision from Historic England on the Boots building.
In the meantime, however, the building still faces considerable challenges. We understand that it is in private ownership, and while it survives with important external features intact, neglect is taking its toll. Sympathetic and proactive ownership is essential, especially in cases like these where urgent action is needed to find a viable new use.
Former shops and department stores are capable of creative and innovative new uses. SAVE’s publication, Departing Stores, has shone a spotlight on just a few. Take the 1920s Owen Owen Building in Liverpool, which has reopened as Flannels, offering a mix of retail, bars, restaurants and a fitness studio.
Championing and reusing our existing buildings can have beneficial impacts for local economies. Research from Historic England has found that businesses and cultural industries are often drawn to historic buildings as distinctive and characterful workplaces. Investing in our high streets and our historic buildings pays off.
We hope this is just the start for these two remarkable buildings.
Author: Fabric District CIC
