Ron Place is a former rented flat at 8 Silverdale Road in Oxton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, which is

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in recognition of the visionary environment of

outsider art Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds. The term ''ou ...

created by its tenant Ron Gittins between 1986 and 2019.

Ron Gittins

Ronald Geoffrey Gittins (1939–2019) was an

ist. He was born in Birkenhead in 1939, one of three children of James and Alice Gittins. He attended the Laird School of Art briefly and also had some theological training, but worked as a skilled cutter in the printing industry, in retail in Liverpool, and as a factory control officer for a

white goods A major appliance is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation. Such appliances are sometimes collectively known as white goods, as the products were tradi ...

manufacturer in

Bromborough Bromborough ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula south-east of Bebington and north of Eastham. It lies within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and became part of Merseysi ...

. He was a talented musician, singing in church when a boy and later "a brilliant

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

impersonator", and also performed with local amateur dramatic groups. At one stage, as a self-employed artist, he established Minstrel Enterprises, a business featuring himself as "The Minstrel". While living at his parents' rented home he transformed his own bedroom in the style of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

. When Gittins was 35, the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

'' featured his decoration of his then home at Beta Close,

Bebington Bebington () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Cheshire, it is south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula ...

, in a story headlined "Pictures of Pompeii Help Put Ron to Sleep" with a photograph of the walls and ceiling of his bedroom, painted with Roman scenes and emperors. Gittins lived alone at 8 Silverdale Road, Oxton, from 1986 until his death in September 2019. The terms of his lease allowed him to decorate the house as he liked, without the need to seek his landlord's prior consent. Over the 33 years he lived there he extensively decorated the entire flat, including external columns beside the front door which were removed by the landlord before they could be rescued. Gittins was interested in history, and was inspired by ancient

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in his decorations. It has been said that:

Discovery and preservation

In January 2020, the formerly rented ground-floor flat was found to contain a collection of

produced by Gittins, and never previously seen. It includes sculptures of a lion and the head of the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

, underwater scenes and rooms based on ancient Egyptian and Greek themes. A

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

appeal was launched to save the work. Fundraising was also supported by

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

singer

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

. Descriptions of visits to the flat in 2021 were written by Denise Courcoux in ''The Double Negative'', Matthew Hogarth in ''Bido Lito!'' and Cathy Ward in ''Brut Journal''. The Wirral Arts and Culture Community Land Trust (WACCLT) was established in December 2021 as the first arts-based

community land trust A community land trust or (CLT) is a nonprofit corporation that holds land on behalf of a place-based community, while serving as the long-term steward for affordable housing, community gardens, civic buildings, commercial spaces and other communi ...

in the United Kingdom, with the aim to "save Ron's Place and create a stimulating, positive legacy for the Wirral and the wider community." The semi-detached house containing the flat was auctioned on 1 March 2023 and was bought by WACCLT, with the help of a donation from the Muller Wimhurst Trust, to preserve the artworks. Writing in the journal ''

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent diseases. It is a cornerstone o ...

'', Lisa Slominski says that "Oscillating between an idiosyncratic subjectivity and universal offering, the power held in Ron's Place is undeniable." In March 2024, the ground-floor flat was given Grade II listed building status by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

. ''NB: Includes a detailed description of the decoration of the flat'' The director of

The Twentieth Century Society The Twentieth Century Society (abbreviated to C20), founded in 1979 as The Thirties Society, is a British charity that campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. It is formally recognised as one of the National ...

, Catherine Croft, described the building as "the first example of outsider art to be nationally listed."

Gallery

File:Lion's Head fireplace in Ron's Place, Birkenhead.jpg, Lion's Head fireplace File:Painting of three women on wall of Ron's Place, Birkenhead.jpg, Painting of three women on a wall File:Ornate fireplace in Ron's Place, Birkenhead.jpg, Ornate fireplace File:Painting of woman in Egyptian style dress in Ron's Place, Birkenhead.jpg, Painting of woman in

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

style dress File:Bathroom ceiling of Ron's Place, Birkenhead.jpg, Bathroom ceiling

References

External links

*
Wirral Arts and Culture Community Land Trust
* ''13m30s audio interview with Gittins' niece Jan Williams and Chris Teasdale, including clips of Gittins busking in a shop, with transcript'' * ''Blog post'' {{coord, 53, 23, 2, N, 3, 3, 5, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Birkenhead Grade II listed buildings in Merseyside Culture in Merseyside Houses in Merseyside Outsider art Grade II listed houses Visionary environments 20th-century works

Ron Gittins

Discovery and preservation

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links