Liverpool moves to restore dilapidated Everton asset
A comprehensive assessment of the condition of the grade two-listed former Everton Library on the corner of Beacon Lane and St Domingo Road is to begin next month and will support plans to restore the building.
The £250,000 package of surveys will include assessments of the Everton building’s structural condition, the extent of water damage, and the impact of “long-term pigeon access” and lay the foundations for plans to make the building weatherproof.
The project will provide a “comprehensive understanding of the building’s condition and the investment required for its full restoration”, according to the city council.
Everton Library was built in 1896 and was designed by Thomas Shelmerdine. It has been vacant for more than 25 years and in 2019 was listed by the Victorian Society as being one of the top 10 most at-risk buildings in the country.
Liverpool City Council’s ambition is to transform the former library into a “vibrant heritage asset that serves the community while acting as a social, cultural and economic driver for the area”, it said.
Councillor Harry Doyle, cabinet member for health, wellbeing, and culture, said: “For many years people have rightly been concerned about the condition of this building, which used to be a library, and want to see progress. This project marks the beginning of that process.
“The former library is one of the area’s most recognisable landmarks and many residents have strong memories and connections to the building.”
Doyle added: “People want to know that progress is being made and that there is a clear plan for its future. The work now being commissioned is an important milestone because it will help us understand exactly what needs to be done to safeguard the building and bring it back into use.”
Look closely and you’ll see that this is one of the finest buildings in the city.
To anyone who knows Liverpool council, it’s simply no surprise that they have let this rot: the institutional inertia within that organisation is simply shocking and grounds for the Commissioners to be brought back in. Dan, Julia: you need to be challenging the council again. They are patently not up to the job.
By St Domingo
Gotta laugh at Liverpool’s constant trickle of wasted effort. Always seen to be doing something but absolutely nothing ever comes of anything. It’s exhausting coming from such a low ambition city where there seems to be a lot of hype and zero anything.
By Anonymous
This is an embarrassment that this beautiful building has stood empty for 25 years, as well as being listed for the last 7 years in the top 10 at risk by the Victorian Society and only now something is being done. Money needs to be found, and in addition some sympathetically designed 3 storey homes could be built on either side to bring some fresh life to the area, and by the way relocate that bus stop.
We have a similar situation with the Eldon Grove tenements, all talk for years and no action. Some might say Eldon Grove is beyond repair but I would say they saved the Reichstag in Berlin, and that looked beyond repair for 60 years.
By Anonymous
Had LCC not let this amazing building decay in the first place then it would have just cost the taxpayer general maintenance while retaining such a unique building.
By GetItBuilt!
Have they left this much-admired masterpiece unloved for too long? We hope not.
By Steve Wall
It is a traversty that this building has been left to rot for so long. I wonder if the library would have been left to rot if it was in a more affluent area.
The city council is guilty of other instances not only with similar buildings but an apathy in other areas;’ the garden festival site left empty since 1984. The old picture house on Park Road Dingle, left to decay, the old Rapid store in Renshaw Street and the housing development in Chinatown.
The city fathers should look on their own doorstep before getting involved in fantasy schemes.
By Robert Ralston
Didn’t they spend hundreds of thousands on repairs a few years ago? I would really like to see this restored but I imagine the survey will say ‘needs an awful lot of money to restore’ and then nothing will happen again for years beyond more emergeny repairs. See also ABC Forum Lime Street, Wellington Rooms etc etc etc.
By ST
Why wait so very long ? It is indeed a Jewell in Everton’s crown. Rock on!
By Barbara hanysz
Not another round of consultations….to add to all of the others – with no finished product in sight. Still waiting for a simple footbridge to cross Canning Dock. Been waiting since Councillor Doyle was still at school.
By JA
About time this building was saved a piece of liverpool history that can not be left to decay any more
By Steve marshall
About time too, I used this library when I was a schoolboy many years ago.
By Liverpolitis
Very happy memories from the age of 5, being taken to the library by my dad on a Saturday morning. I can still ‘smell’the atmosphere. Beautiful building! I would love to hear that it has been restored,even though I haven’t lived in Liberpool for 60 years!
By Anonymous
It worries me when LCC mention the word ‘cultural’.
By Eric
So glad to hear this building will hopefully be saved. It was such a big part if my childhood memories. I attended St George’s School which was oppposite, sadly no longer there due to progress, although the church still stands, a well known land mark.
By Wilma Jones
That’s great news it deserves to be protected it’s a wonderful building local people deserve it.
By PATRICK mcgill